Resources

Nature Based Solutions

Carbon Dynamics

Ecosystem Services

Policy & Governance

Climate Modeling

Nature-Based Solutions

Nature-Based Solutions

Nature Based Solutions (NBS) have emerged as a promising way to address societal challenges like climate change, water scarcity, and natural disasters. By leveraging the power of nature and its ecosystems, NBS offers cost-effective, sustainable solutions that provide multiple benefits for both humans and the environment. This growing area of research and activity includes a range of solutions, such as restoring degraded ecosystems, preserving natural habitats, and integrating green infrastructure into urban areas. As awareness of the impacts of human activities on the planet continues to grow, NBS is increasingly being recognized as an essential component of building more resilient societies. By harnessing the natural resources around us, we can find innovative solutions to some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.

NBS Untangled

Relevant Videos

President Biden discusses CA wetlands
Urban NBS
Wetlands: Nature-based solutions 
Wetland Restoration in California

Relevant Literature

Leveraging Wetlands
Opportunities to Accererate NBS
California's Strategic Coastal Protection Plan
California Climate Adaptation Strategy
Pathways to 30x30
Natural and Working Land Climate Smart Strategy

Relevant Links

California Climate Solutions
AB32 Climate Change Scoping Plan
California Climate Assessment,
Science, and Research
California Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory Program
CO2

Understanding Wetland Carbon Dynamics

Processes affecting carbon emission and sequestration in wetlands occur in the air, water, and soil. 

Measuring Wetland Carbon Dynamics with Eddies

Relevant Videos

Harnessing the Power of the Ocean to Restore the Climate
Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)
Ocean-Based CDR Methods with Dr. Jessica Cross, NOAA

Relevant Literature

The future of Blue Carbon science
Ecosystem management and land conservation can substantially...
Understanding the value and limits of nature-based solutions...
Natural Climate Solutions

Relevant Links

CENTRAL COAST WETLANDS GROUP (CCWG)
Mapping Tools
CCWG Links
CCWG Library
Ecosystem

Ecosystem Services

Our group recognizes the vital importance of wetland restoration in returning many of the lost ecosystem services resulting from degradation. We measure the value of restoration for both people and nature, recognizing that restored wetlands provide essential services such as water purification, flood control, and habitat for wildlife. By assessing the value of wetland restoration, we can better understand the benefits and make informed decisions about where and how to prioritize restoration efforts. Our work aims to help ensure the long-term health and sustainability of our planet's ecosystems while also providing economic and cultural benefits to communities around the world.

Dutch Slough Wetland Restoration

Relevant Videos

The Historical Roots of Climate Injustice
Rachelle Gould: Equity in Ecosystem Services
Jesse Gourevitch: Unequal Impacts of Nature Loss
Robert Meister: Is Justice an Option?

Relevant Literature

The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital
Twenty years of ecosystem services: How far have we come and how far do we still need to go?
Ecosystem services: Tensions, impurities, and points of engagement within neoliberalism
Relational Values: A Whiteheadian Alternative for Environmental Philosophy and Global Environmental Justice
Relational values: the key to pluralistic valuation of ecosystem services
Payment for Ecosystem Services and the Challenge of Saving Nature
Wetland ecosystem services in California's Central Valley and implications for the Wetland Reserve Program

Relevant Links

Governance

Policy and Governance

Wetland restoration can provide valuable ecosystem services, including for climate change mitigation and adaptation, but only if these projects can be successfully implemented. Actors must navigate a complex policy and governance process involving collaborators, funders, permitting, and community engagement for wetland restoration projects. Social science methods, particularly social network analysis and qualitative case studies and interviews, can examine the ways that actors collaborate, share resources, and make decisions. Examining these processes as a network allows us to quantitatively and statistically test how existing collaborations and actor positions influence these processes. Social network analysis and stakeholder interviews allow us to understand decision-making and barriers to collaboration--essential knowledge to improve the implementation of wetland restoration from a governance perspective.

An Introduction to Social Network Analysis

Relevant Videos

Housing, Wildfires, Climate Migration and Managed Retreat
A Brief History of Environmental Justice
Cooperation in the Face of Complexity: The Future of Water Governance
Intro Video to Social Network Analysis

Relevant Literature

Social Networks in Natural Resource Management
Do Networks Solve Collective Action Problems?
Closing the collaborative gap 
Network structure and institutional complexity
Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in urban green space accessibility
Planning for environmental justice in an urban national park
A tale of two suburbias: Turning up the heat

Relevant Links

California Wetland and Riparian Area Monitoring Plan (WRAMP)
modeling

Carbon Modeling

Carbon sequestration and emission in wetlands are modelled using various techniques such as biogeochemical models, greenhouse gas flux measurements, and remote sensing. These models aim to estimate the amount of carbon stored in wetland soils and vegetation, as well as the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere through processes such as microbial decomposition and plant respiration. By understanding the dynamics of carbon in wetlands, scientists can develop strategies to promote wetland conservation and restoration as a means of mitigating climate change through carbon sequestration. Additionally, the models can help identify the impact of human activities such as drainage and land-use change on wetland carbon sequestration and emissions.

Modeling carbon

Relevant Videos

Amanzi-ATS Short Course
Climate Model Scenarios
An introduction to Ecosys

Relevant Literature

Reactive transport codes for subsurface environmental simulation.
Hot Spots and Hot Moments in the Critical Zone
Saltwater intrusion modeling and Marsh evolution under sea level rise
Coastal wetland resilience
Coastal geochemistry
Sensitivity of wetland CH4 emissions

Relevant Links

Amanzi-ATS
ECOSYS model for terrestrial ecosystem biogeochemistry
CRUNCHFLOW