Catrina Gore

Catrina Gore is an ARIES-funded PhD researcher in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. Her project title is “Can we restore Blue Carbon? – Assessing carbon dynamics in restored UK salt marshes through molecular tools”. Saltmarsh restoration is receiving increased attention as a natural climate solution because of the ability of these ecosystems to bury carbon at rates far higher than terrestrial forests. In the UK, a carbon crediting scheme is being developed that would allow organisations to invest in carbon credits to offset their own unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions and thus provide funding for the restoration. Therefore, Catrina’s project aims to determine whether restored saltmarshes function in the same way as natural sites. To this end, she investigates the processes controlling carbon dynamics and microbial ecology in restored UK saltmarshes.