Pranjal Dwivedi

Bonnie Reiss CNI Fellow Class of 2022

Graduate Student, Environmental Science Policy and Management
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

Project

Estimation of methane emissions from wetlands in response to anthropogenically induced biogeochemical changes.

Project Description

Wetlands are critical ecosystems and important carbon sinks globally, holding 20-30% of estimated soil carbon. Conversely, they are also important carbon sources, being the biggest natural source of methane to the atmosphere. Pranjal’s research will focus on studying key biogeochemical processes occurring within wetland sediments in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta involved in methane production/suppression and evaluate the effect of increasing nitrate and sulfate concentrations, linked to saltwater intrusion and intensive agriculture, across temperatures representative of seasonal and future variations. His research will attempt to inform policymakers in California about the feasibility of continual carbon offsets derived from conversion of agricultural land to wetlands in a warming climate.