CRMRN is working to measure the complex interactions between the soils, streams, forests, and the ocean to determine how materials move through coastal watersheds to marine environments.
Some of the goals of the research network include determining how climate change will affect the land-to-ocean flow of materials, what role the PCTR has in global carbon sequestration now and in the future, how important terrestrial nutrients are to marine ecosystem processes, and what might happen if these processes change.
Answering these questions will help prepare local communities and industries for a warming and increasingly variable climate. Climate-driven changes in the movement of freshwater, carbon, and nutrients from coastal watersheds may impact downstream ecosystems and economies in both predictable and unanticipated ways. This research will inform decisions about ecosystem management, infrastructure, and policy to build resilience in coastal communities. It will also provide insight to coastal temperate rainforests worldwide, and inform research into climate-driven changes in other coastal margin areas.
The Coast Between 