The CABESTAN project aims to overcome key knowledge gaps regarding the processes and drivers that regulate carbon fluxes in coastal wetlands, from the retro‑littoral marsh continuum to the intertidal zone. It seeks to address original scientific questions focused on carbon behaviour across the spatial and temporal gradients that characterise these environments:

• How do carbon uptake and recycling processes at tidal, diurnal, and seasonal scales influence long‑term carbon sequestration?
• How does carbon dynamics evolve along the salinity gradient, from the intertidal zone to salt marshes?
• Do eutrophication gradients translate into gradients of carbon sequestration?
• Are the most productive substrates also those that sequester the most carbon?
• How do climatic and tidal forcings along the English Channel–Atlantic coastline affect the carbon cycle?

These questions structure CABESTAN’s ambition to better understand the functioning of coastal wetlands and their contribution to carbon sequestration in a changing climate.