Abstract
In order to contribute to understand the factors that control the provisioning of the ecosystem service of carbon storage by mangroves, data on carbon stock and sequestration in the aboveground biomass (AGB) from 73 articles were averaged and tested for the dependence on latitude, climatic parameters, physiographic types and age. Global means of carbon stock (78.0 ± 64.5 tC.ha-1) and sequestration (2.9 ± 2.2 tC.ha-1.yr-1) showed that mangroves are among the forest ecosystems with greater capacity of carbon storage in AGB per area. On the global scale, carbon stock increases toward the equator (R²=0.22) and is dependent on 13 climatic parameters, which can be integrated in the following predictive equation: Carbon Stock in AGB = -16.342 + (8.341 x Isothermality) + (0.021 x Annual Precipitation) [R²=0.34; p < 0.05]. It was shown that almost 70% of carbon stock variability is explained by age. Carbon stock and sequestration also vary according to physiographic types, indicating the importance of hydroperiod and edaphic parameters to the local variability of carbon stock. By demonstrating the contribution of local and regional-global factors to carbon stock, this study provides information to the forecast of the effects of future climate changes and local anthropogenic forcings on this ecosystem service.
Highlights
Mangroves are coastal forest ecosystems occurring in unconsolidated substrata in sheltered intertidal zones of tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of the planet
The present study shows that the maximum carbon stock found in mangrove forests is higher than shown in the previous reviews (Table I; Appendix 1S)
It was shown in this study that at the global/ regional scale, carbon stock increases towards the Equator and its variability is dependent on climatic parameters, primarily temperature of coldest periods, isothermality, annual precipitation, and water balance
Summary
Mangroves are coastal forest ecosystems occurring in unconsolidated substrata in sheltered intertidal zones of tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of the planet They are globally recognized for being highly important in terms of ecological, economic, social and cultural functions due to the variety of goods and services they provide, reaching an estimated annual economic value of more than US$ 900 000/km (UNEP-WCMC 2006). In the last 20 years, some reviews have been published addressing the storage and flux of carbon or organic matter in mangrove ecosystems (Twilley et al 1992, Saenger and Snedaker 1993, Chmura et al 2003, Bouillon et al 2008, Komiyama et al 2008, Kristensen et al 2008, Adame and Lovelock 2011, Alongi 2014, Hutchison et al 2014), which sought to synthesize the results of numerous previously published articles on the subject Some of these reviews present surveys of aboveground biomass, none have addressed the factors that influence the aboveground biomass (or carbon stock in this compartment) and the rate of aboveground biomass increment (or carbon sequestration in this compartment), except for Hutchison et al (2014) on the role of climate variables
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