The CARBONIQUE project: Carbon cycling in Quebec's wetlands

Funded by the Quebec Government, the CARBONIQUE  project seeks to better understand the carbon storage capacity of the main wetland types in southern Quebec - open and treed peatlands, coastal freshwater marshes and swamps. By quantifying their contributions, the project highlights the role these ecosystems can play within a broader portfolio of approaches for addressing climate change. This focus is particularly important in southern Quebec, where wetlands are under the greatest anthropogenic pressure and where informed management decisions can have the largest impact.

To  achieve this, the project will quantify both the carbon and water cycles at paired natural (intact) and disturbed sites for each wetland type (alongside one restored marsh site) and examine how these two cycles interact. Atmospheric carbon exchange will be measured using eddy covariance flux towers and integrated with measurements of above and belowground carbon stocks, lateral carbon fluxes and hydrological processes. As of spring 2026, six sites have been equipped with an eddy covariance flux tower. Three additional sites will be instrumented in summer 2026, expanding the network and enabling robust comparisons across all wetland types and disturbance regimes.

The project will provide crucial predictive understanding to inform policy, guide wetland conservation and management, and support the design of effective climate change mitigation strategies across multiple levels of government.