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DRAGOMAN MARSH BULGARIA ASSESSMENT OF THE DAILY METABOLISM, GHG RELEASE AND CABON SEQUESTRATION Slide 2 Andrey Ralev, BALKANI Wildlife Society Ivan Traykov, Department of Ecology and EP, Sofia University Slide 3 Balkani Wildlife Society Created 1989, registered 1992. 70 members and 10 employees. 1. Research, conservation and restoration of biodiversity. 2. Development of nature protection legislation. 3. Rising public awareness. www.balkani.org Slide 4 Dragoman Marsh 331 ha, 705 m.a.s.l., 40 km from Sofia The biggest karst marsh Drained 1930s-1950s Restoration since end of the 1990s Slide 5 Dragoman Marsh - now 226 species of birds, 126 breeding 30-40 pairs Ferruginous Duck (Aythia nyroca) 2006: Great White Egret, Purple Heron, Gray Heron, Great Bittern, Little Bittern Slide 6 Chepan Hill (1206 m) Unique steppic submediteranean flora Endemic plants: E. serbicus, A. wilmottianus, T. urumoffii Slide 7 Wet meadows Specific boreal flora: Salix rosmarinifolia, Plantago maxima, Viola pumila, Fritilaria meleagroides 30-50 pairs of Corncrake (Crex crex) Slide 8 1. Monitoring of birds 1. Monitoring of birds (since 1994) (since 1994) 2. Environmental 2. Environmental education education Work in the region Slide 9 3. Purchase of land in the Marsh (43 ha) 3. Purchase of land in the Marsh (43 ha) Slide 10 Work in the region 4. Visitors infrastructure: Slide 11 WetlandConservationCentre Slide 12 Work in the region 5. Programme for wastewater treatment : Slide 13 Constructed Wetlands Pond System Creates work for local people (building and keeping) Needs less energy and expertise for keeping Needs more space (~10 sqm/inh. = 3-4 ha total for 3500 inh.) Slide 14 Work in the region 6. Protection and restoration of species: Slide 15 Work in the region 7. Using biomass from the marsh as energy : Slide 16 Carbon sequestration Ivan Traykov, Anelia Kenarova Department of Ecology and EP, Sofia Ubiversity Anita Tosheva Department of Botany, Sofia University Slide 17 Production of the marsh Vegetation type/ habitat maps Above ground biomass assessment (emergent and submergent vegetation) Phytoplankton production (light and dark bottles, chlorophyll-a) Community metabolism (diurnal oxygen changes) GHG ebullition rates (CH 4 and CO 2 ) Slide 18 Vegetation type/ habitat maps %ha H 2 0 mirror35117 Reed1343 Typha2069 Club-rush1860 Carex1242 TOTAL331 Slide 19 Above ground biomass assessment gDW/m2 shootsrootsMet. losestotalgC/m2tDW/y Phragmites1100 141439,6 64219,8 561758 225802 103755 22 Typha13105242622096,09561446 Schoenoplectus12204882441952,08901171 Carex118472418940679 Ceratophillum485 177194 7197 35776 283354 129908 332 Slide 20 Phytoplankton production GPP = 3,45 gC/m2/d CR = 3,46 gC/m2/d P/R = 0,99 Slide 21 The measured NPP in the draining canals corresponds to Chl-a content in the phytoplankton of 39.8 11.7 mg/m3, while in the inner open water pools the Chl-a is 5.33 1.4 mg/m3. Vassilev and Tsavkova (2004) have shown strict relationship between the two studied parameters in Srebarna marsh. If we accept it to be true for Dragoman marsh as well, than the NPP of phytoplankton in the inner basins would be 0.08 gO2/m3/h, which is just 5.8% of the (1.38 0.33 gO2/m3/h) in this type of habitats. The area of the open water habitat in the marsh is117 ha, from which the draining canals take just 1%. The NPP of the inner pools is assessed to be 44.2 tC/y and that of the drainage canals - 5.5 tC/y Phytoplankton production Slide 22 Community metabolism gO2/m3/hgO2/m2/d NPGPCRANPAGPDCRP/R canal0,5360,9210,3856,43611,05311,0810,997 Slide 23 Community metabolism gO2/m3/hgO2/m2/d NPGPCRANPAGPDCRP/R SM11,6202,1840,5644,0556,8756,7821,014 SM21,9583,3431,3859,79016,71516,6201,006 Slide 24 Community metabolism NPPmax = 2,85 gO2/m3/h at 0,3m depth between 2 and 4 pm Slide 25 GHG ebullition rates CH4 ebullition ca. 95 295 kg/y', i.e., 287 kg/ha/y. Annual CH4 emition up to ca. 633 kg/ha/y. comparable to the 701 kg/ha/y found by Kankaala et al., (2004) for total annual emission of methane from the littoral zone of shallow lakes. CO2 ebullition is ca. 5 070 kg/y', i.e., 15.3 kg/ha/y. mg/m2/d CH4CO2O2 Avrg117,56,21,2 Stdev12,60, 70,1 Slide 26 Storage and fluxes of carbon P gC/m2/y R gC/m2/y Area ha P gC/m2/y R gC/m2/y Phragmites80261713104,380,2 Typha95573521200,6154,3 Schoenoplectus89068518160,2123,2 Carex86661311,28,6 Ceratophillum35432235123,9112,6 Phytoplancton 10,280,25340,09 Phytoplancton 23,453,1410,03 C ebullition 20 total production 600 total respiration 499 C sequestration 101 Slide 27 Future actions Slide 28 Future actions: More detailed study of CO 2 sequestration Dragoman Marsh management plan habitat for endangered species Waste water treatment plant of Dragoman town constructed wetland Using biomass from the marsh as energy source Preventing the common practice of burning the organic remains on agricultural lands Slide 29 Thanks for your attention