Rutgers Professor Examines Effects of Sandy on Meadowlands

Karina Schäfer, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers-Newark, specializes in ecosystem ecology, looking at global climate change and its effects on terrestrial ecosystems. Greenhouse gas emission is one of several factors contributing to climate change, and the ability of the earth’s land and oceans to absorb excess gases such as carbon-dioxide plays a key role in the health of the planet. These natural sponges, or sinks, include wetlands like the Meadowlands in New Jersey, which Schäfer has been studying in concert with the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute. She’s been measuring how much CO₂, methane and nitrous oxide these vast wetlands have been absorbing and producing, and how Hurricane Sandy has affected the area. We spoke to her recently about her research.

What drew you to the Meadowlands, and why is it important to study the area?

Wetlands are very important to the environment. They filter harmful nutrients, protect coastlines from floods and hurricanes, fight sea-level rise, and take up and store carbon. Humans have increased the greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide—that the Meadowlands are emitting. The sources vary, but the main one is sewage coming from Hackensack River, which spawns invasive species not native to area that are huge methane emitters. Another is the Oradell Dam, which limits the fresh water in the area.

So, what are the implications for the Meadowlands?

Well, scientists examine all the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases as part of the work on global climate change, and see what the balance is at the end of the day. We’re doing the same for the Meadowlands and trying to figure out if we can manage these wetlands to take up more greenhouse gases than they emit – to make them better sinks. If we can do that, not only will we be helping the environment by reducing global warming, we’ll get carbon credits that can be turned into dollars as part of cap-and-trade [the prevailing market-based approach to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in the U.S. and globally.

When did you start measuring these greenhouse gases in the Meadowlands, and how do you go about it?

My team and I started in 2009 using eddy covariance flux towers: devices set up at different sites in the Meadowlands that measure the amount of CO₂ and methane in the air. From all the data they produce, we can infer how much of each gas is emitted and taken up by the wetlands. We also use additional instruments that give us small-scale measurements of just methane.

And you’re studying the effects of Hurricane Sandy on the Meadowlands as well?

Yes. Sandy destroyed much of my equipment actually. I received a National Science Foundation grant to restore it and study what the hurricane did to the greenhouse-gas balance at each site. Also, Sandy took away up to one foot of Meadowlands, which compromises sea-lands protection and creates water patches during tidal flows that weren’t there. These wash away sediments, change vegetation and maybe produce more methane because we now have less air, or oxygen, present. We’re tracking these changes in methane with the eddy covariance flux towers.

Does your work get caught up in the politics of climate-change?

Yes, definitely. Wetlands management is part of the Clean Water Act. There are lots of dollars at stake with cap-and-trade and carbon credits. And the Meadowlands is a politically sensitive site because of real-estate developers and other interests. So, our work is certainly not done in a vacuum.