A global assessment of mangrove soil organic carbon sources and implications for blue carbon credit

Jingfan Zhang; Shuchai Gan; Pingjian Yang; Jinge Zhou; Xingyun Huang; Han Chen; Hua He; Neil Saintilan; Christian J. Sanders; Faming Wang

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-53413-z

Nature Communications (Oct 2024)

A global assessment of mangrove soil organic carbon sources and implications for blue carbon credit

Jingfan Zhang,
Shuchai Gan,
Pingjian Yang,
Jinge Zhou,
Xingyun Huang,
Han Chen,
Hua He,
Neil Saintilan,
Christian J. Sanders,
Faming Wang

Affiliations

Jingfan Zhang: Xiaoliang Research Station of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, the CAS Engineering Laboratory for Ecological Restoration of Island and Coastal Ecosystems, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shuchai Gan: Xiaoliang Research Station of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, the CAS Engineering Laboratory for Ecological Restoration of Island and Coastal Ecosystems, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Pingjian Yang: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences
Jinge Zhou: Xiaoliang Research Station of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, the CAS Engineering Laboratory for Ecological Restoration of Island and Coastal Ecosystems, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xingyun Huang: Xiaoliang Research Station of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, the CAS Engineering Laboratory for Ecological Restoration of Island and Coastal Ecosystems, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Han Chen: Xiaoliang Research Station of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, the CAS Engineering Laboratory for Ecological Restoration of Island and Coastal Ecosystems, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Hua He: Xiaoliang Research Station of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, the CAS Engineering Laboratory for Ecological Restoration of Island and Coastal Ecosystems, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Neil Saintilan: School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University
Christian J. Sanders: National Marine Science Centre, School of Environment, Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University
Faming Wang: Xiaoliang Research Station of Tropical Coastal Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, the CAS Engineering Laboratory for Ecological Restoration of Island and Coastal Ecosystems, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53413-z
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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Abstract Mangroves can retain both autochthonous and allochthonous marine and/or terrestrial organic carbon (OC) in sediments. Accurate quantification of these OC sources is essential for the proper allocation of blue C credits. Here, we conduct a global-scale analysis of sediments autochthonous and allochthonous OC contributions in estuarine and marine mangroves using stable isotopes. Globally, mangrove-derived autochthonous OC was the main contributor to estuarine and marine mangrove top-meter soil organic carbon (SOC) (49% and 62%, respectively). Less marine allochthonous OC (21%) was deposited than terrestrial allochthonous OC (30%) in estuarine mangrove sediments. Estuarine mangroves accumulated more SOC in sediments than marine mangroves (282 ± 8.1 Mg C ha−1 and 250 ± 5.0 Mg C ha−1, respectively), primarily due to the additional terrestrial OC inputs. Globally, marine mangroves held 67% of the total mangrove SOC, reaching 3025 ± 345 Tg C, while 1502 ± 154 Tg C was stored in estuarine mangrove sediments. The findings emphasize the substantial influence of coastal environmental settings on OC contributions, underlining the necessity of accurate OC source quantification for the effective allocation of blue carbon credits.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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