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Carbon Sequestration in Mangroves

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Blue Carbon in Shallow Coastal Ecosystems

Abstract

Mangrove ecosystems are widely regarded as highly productive, and the high ability of mangroves to store carbon is currently receiving much attention in the context of climate change. Globally, mangroves are estimated to occupy an area of 152,361 km2. A model relating mangrove biomass to temperature and precipitation has been used, together with global mangrove distribution maps, to estimate the total aboveground biomass worldwide as 2.83 Pg dry weight (95% confidence interval 2.18–3.40 Pg), and the base area average as 184.8 t dry weight ha−1 (95% CI 142.1–222.0 t ha−1). Almost half of the total global mangrove biomass is in Southeast Asia. The global mangrove belowground biomass has been estimated to be 1.11 Pg dry weight (95% CI 0.74–1.64 Pg). Thus, the total estimated biomass (aboveground + belowground) is 3.94 Pg dry weight. Estimates of carbon storage as necromass (dead organic matter) in mangrove soils differ. By one estimate, 5.00 Pg C is stored globally as necromass. By another estimate, ~2.6 Pg C is stored globally, and the whole mangrove ecosystem stores ~4.4 Pg C.

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Inoue, T. (2019). Carbon Sequestration in Mangroves. In: Kuwae, T., Hori, M. (eds) Blue Carbon in Shallow Coastal Ecosystems. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1295-3_3

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