Abstract
Despite the increasing interest in mangroves as one of the most carbon-rich ecosystems, arid mangroves are still poorly investigated. We aimed to improve the knowledge of biomass and soil carbon sequestration for an arid mangrove forest located at the Azini creek, Sirik, Hormozgan Province (Iran). We investigated the biomass and organic carbon stored in the above and belowground biomass for three different regions selected based on the composition of the principal species: (1) Avicennia marina, (2) mixed forest of A. marina and Rhizophora mucronata, and (3) R. mucronata. Topsoil organic carbon storage to 30cm depth was also estimated for each analyzed area. Biomass carbon storage, considering both aboveground (AGB) and belowground biomass (BGB), was significantly different between the cover areas. Overall, the mean forest biomass (MFB) was 283.1 ± 89Mg C ha-1 with a mean C stored in the biomass of 128.9 ± 59Mg C ha-1. Although pure Rhizophora stand showed the lowest value of above and below tree carbon (AGC + BGC); 17.6 ± 1.9Mg C ha-1), soil organic carbon stock in sites under Rhizophora spp. was significantly higher than in the site with pure stand of Avicennia spp. Overall, forest soil stored the highest proportion of Sirik mangrove ecosystem organic carbon (59%), with a mean value of 188.3 ± 27Mg C ha-1. These results will contribute to broaden the knowledge and the dataset available, reducing the uncertainties related to estimates and modeling of carbon pools in arid mangrove ecosystem, which also represent an important climatic threshold of mangrove worldwide distribution.
Highlights
Mangroves are typically distributed within the tropics, but they are extended into the subtropical and warm temperate regions in the tidal zones, coastal rivers, estuaries and bays of the world (Hamilton &Casey 2016, Naidoo 2009, Zeinali et al 2017)
Inconsistent with previous studies that have stated that A. marina biomass is lower than other mangrove species (Zhila et al 2014), in this study A. marina biomass was higher than R. mucronata
We compared our results with ABG and below ground biomass (BGB) values reported a by Komiyama et al (Komiyama et al 2008) for different worldwide distributed mangrove forests (Table 3)
Summary
Mangroves are typically distributed within the tropics, but they are extended into the subtropical and warm temperate regions in the tidal zones, coastal rivers, estuaries and bays of the world (Hamilton &Casey 2016, Naidoo 2009, Zeinali et al 2017). Mangrove trees reduce coastal erosion caused by natural phenomena and increase the aesthetic value of the coast (Hashim et al 2010, Zeinali et al 2018) They offer a physical habitat for a wide range of marine animals (Nagelkerken et al 2008) and convey ecosystem services that span their natural range limits (Ewel et al 1998). Mangroves play an important role in absorbing atmospheric CO2, storing more than twice the global CO2 emissions Their high primary productivity and the high amount of carbon stored in their soil (Castañeda-Moya et al 2010), leads to higher amount of mean carbon storage than that in high tropical, temperate and northern forests (Komiyama et al 2005). The potential of coastal ecosystems as carbon sinks is due to their autochthonous and allochthonous sources of organic carbon (OC) input (Andreetta et al 2016, Bouillon et al 2003) and the role of mangrove forests in stabilizing significant levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide in their biomass and in the soils has been emphasized in recent years (Osazuwa-Peters &Zanne 2011)
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