Effects of drought and elevated nutrients on invasion by Lepidium latifolium and implications for carbon storage in tidal wetlands of the San Francisco Bay-Delta

The Delta ecosystem is under threat from multiple concurrent stressors, including drought, nutrient pollution, and invasion by non-native species. Pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium) is an invasive perennial plant that displaces native species. The species may also reduce carbon storage in tidal marshes, which has implications for projects that aim to restore marshes for the purposes of increasing carbon uptake and storage, a decarbonization method known as “blue carbon.”