March Science Café to focus on the role of wetlands in coastal carbon cycle
Post Published On:Blue carbon ecosystems will be the topic of discussion at Thomas University’s next Science Café at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 30. The presentation will be held via Zoom.
Blue carbon ecosystems, also called coastal wetlands, include mangroves, salt marshes, and sea grass beds. They are globally important environments of biogeochemical cycling. They are the focus of global research and policy efforts related to the sequestration and exchange of carbon with oceans, continents and the atmosphere. Focusing on mangroves, this talk will provide an overview of the importance of blue carbon, including consideration of the vulnerability and resilience of these ecosystems to global change pressures like accelerating sea-level rise, human-caused reductions in freshwater delivery to the coast, eutrophication, and tropical cyclone activity.
Presenting the Science Café will be Dr. Josh Breithaupt, an assistant research faculty member of the Coastal and Marine Laboratory at Florida State University. He has a bachelor’s degree in English from Wheaton College, a master’s degree in Environmental Science and a doctorate in Marine Science from the University of South Florida. Dr. Breithaupt has conducted research at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the University of Central Florida. The primary focus of his work is carbon cycling in coastal environments.
For those who would like to participate in this event, please email April Penton, Science Café coordinator, at apenton@thomasu.edu, for the Zoom link. Participants are welcome to join between 6 and 6:30 p.m. if they would like to chat with the presenter. For those not familiar with how to use Zoom, instructions are available.
