The following study aims to investigate the environmental conditions of the harbor of Sk?rhamn, a small fishing community on the west coast of Sweden. The interest to do so rose as a newly built apartment residence failed to connect the sewage pipes of 18 apartments, causing the untreated sewage running into the sea. The parameters accounted for are the C/N ratio, total organic carbon (TOC) as well as total nitrogen present (TN) and ?13C in the top ten centimeters of a sediment core retrieved in the Sk?rhamn harbour.

Globally, coastal ecosystems like mangrove forests, sea grass meadows and salt marshes are well known for their ability to capture and store atmospheric carbon effectively. In Sweden, there is still limited knowledge about local coastal ecosystems with similar functions, with alder swamp forests being an interesting example. Therefore, this study aimed to increase knowledge of the factors that can contribute to the potential carbon sequestering ability of alder swamps. Vegetation data and sediment samples were collected from a total of 37 sampling plots across four alder swamps in Bohusl?n on the Swedish west coast.

Due to global climate change and the rising levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, the interest for seeking solutions for mitigation has increased. While much attention has been directed towards technical solutions such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), biogenic carbon sinks has also garnered significant attention. Previous studies have shown that coastal ecosystems such as seagrass meadows and mangroves have a much greater capacity for storing carbon (C) compared to terrestrial ecosystems. That raises the question if other coastal ecosystems, such as coastal wetland forests, that previously haven?t been considered as blue carbon habitats also contribute to coastal carbon sink capacity.