River Catchments to Coastal Seas: N2O and CH4 Variability and Insights for Ecosystem Restoration

Dorinda Urwick, Jasmin (2025) River Catchments to Coastal Seas: N2O and CH4 Variability and Insights for Ecosystem Restoration. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Limiting greenhouse gas emissions is of global importance to address the climate and biodiversity crises. Aquatic ecosystems include some of the world’s most threatened habitats, making them a priority for ecological restoration efforts. They are also a significant source of methane and nitrous oxide, the second and third most potent greenhouse gases. Ecosystem managers now face the challenge of balancing the need for habitat restoration and biodiversity recovery with limiting exacerbations to emissions of greenhouse gases. In this thesis I broadly set out to investigate the variability of methane and nitrous oxide found in the surface waters of rivers, estuaries and coastal waters, and to understand how ecosystem restoration through nature-based solutions stands to influence this variability. I first review the major biological pathways of methane and nitrous oxide and identify knowledge gaps preventing a clear understanding of the effects of nature-based solutions on greenhouse gas emissions (Chapter 1). Next, I examine the methods used to estimate air-water fluxes of greenhouse gases by comparing several commonly used empirical models to estimate gas transfer velocity (Chapter 2), which informed the use of these models during a river-to-coast investigation of the River Tamar to identify opportunities for nature-based solutions (Chapter 3). This leads on to a detailed case study of an intertidal wetland restoration project in the Tamar Estuary, where I investigated the contribution of the wetland to methane and nitrous oxide export to the connected estuary (Chapter 4). This thesis adds to the growing body of knowledge that accounting for methane and nitrous oxide complicates the effectiveness of nature-based solutions to climate change mitigation. This work concludes with a call for increased guidance and evidence-driven target setting to ensure ecosystem managers are adequately supported in the spatial planning of nature-based solutions whilst simultaneously working towards global biodiversity and climate change commitments.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	28 Jan 2026 09:29
Last Modified:	28 Jan 2026 09:29
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101760
DOI:

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