Tracing organic matter sources and carbon burial in mangrove sediments over the past 160 years

Abstract

Mangrove ecosystems may be a source of organic carbon and nutrients to adjacent coastal systems on one hand and provide a sedimentary sink for organic carbon on the other. The balance between these two functions may be sensitive to both natural and anthropogenically induced variability, yet these effects have not been thoroughly evaluated in mangrove ecosystems. We determine organic matter sources and carbon burial rates over the past 160 years in three lagoons on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Carbon isotopes and C/N elemental ratios are utilized to trace the three sources contributing to sedimentary organic matter, mangroves, seagrasses and phytoplankton, while nitrogen isotopes are used to elucidate potential post-depositional biogeochemical transformations in mangrove lagoon sediments. All three organic matter sources contribute to organic carbon burial. Phytoplankton and mangroves are the dominant sources of organic matter in lagoon bank sediments and seagrasses are a significant source to central lagoon sediments. Organic carbon burial rates are higher at the lagoon fringes, where mangrove vegetation dominates, than in seagrass-dominated mid-lagoon areas. A reduction in mangrove contribution to the sedimentary organic matter pool concurrent with reduced total organic carbon burial rates is observed in the recent past at all three lagoons studied. Natural cycles in sediment organic matter source over the past 160 years are observed in a high-resolution core. These fluctuations correspond to climatic variability in this region, as recorded in deep-sea foraminiferal assemblages. Additional work is required in order to differentiate between recent anthropogenic perturbations and natural variability in organic carbon sources and burial rates within these ecosystems.