HILLSBOROUGH – Rutgers University and Duke Farms are collaborating on a unique and cutting-edge study to develop natural solutions to climate change.

Duke Farms' 2,700 acres can act as an experimental “carbon sink," Duke Farms Executive Director Michael Catania said, by drawing carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in the ground. A carbon sink, such as a forest or body of water, absorbs and captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduces the gas's concentration in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas which blocks heat from escaping the atmosphere, is released through human activities such as deforestation, burning fossil fuels and respiration. Higher levels of carbon dioxide are a factor in global warming and climate change.

A carbon sink, according to Karina Schafer, associate professor in the Department of Biology at Rutgers-Newark, "drains" carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. "It's like pouring water into an overflowing bathtub," she said. "We not draining as much as we are pouring in."

Duke Farms is the ideal site for conducting the research because it is self-contained and contains grasslands, wetlands and forests.

If the practices developed at Duke Farms prove to be effective, then they can be used by private and public landowners, Catania said.

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"We're really excited about it," he said, adding that the partnership fits into Duke Farms' "overall mission" of promoting environmental stewardship, sustainability and education.

"Think of this as a research and development project," Catania said. "It will show people if you do X, this is the result."

The Rutgers University researchers, from the New Brunswick, Newark and Camden campuses, will conduct monitoring and research at Duke Farms over five years to devise strategies how to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ground.

"The very forward-thinking team of land managers at Duke Farms is providing us with an exciting living laboratory opportunity to conduct research regarding carbon sinks that will have value for these types of vegetative and agronomic systems within and beyond our region," said Marjorie Kaplan, associate director of the Rutgers Climate Institute.

The study, projected to last several years, will begin by compiling baseline data on the presence of carbon in various land types and land management strategies. The Rutgers scientists then will create strategies to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in soil and vegetation. That process is known as carbon sequestration.

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The study will also determine the greenhouse gas emissions supporting the Duke Farms operations compared to the carbon stored on the property.

In its sustainability efforts, Duke Farms has planted 340,000 trees and shrubs in the past decade, Catania said.

Forty percent of the property is forested. Before a management plan was implemented, Duke Farms had one of the densest populations of deer on the planet, Catania said, leading to the undergrowth in the forest being decimated by the feeding deer.

With the deer population under control, Schafer said, "you can hardly walk through the reforested areas" and that growth on the forest floor leads to greater carbon sequestration.

About 650 acres of Duke Farms is used for agricultural purposes, Catania said, with hay and cattle being raised.

Staff writer Mike Deak's grandfather built the bowling alleys in the basement of the Duke mansion. He can be reached at 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com.