results in a conservative estimate of 218 ± 72 Tg C a 1 . When using the best available estimates of various carbon sinks (organic carbon export, sediment burial, and mineralization), it appears that >50% of the carbon fixed by mangrove vegetation is unaccounted for. This unaccounted carbon sink is conservatively estimated at 112 ± 85 Tg C a 1 , equivalent in magnitude to 30–40% of the global riverine organic carbon input to the coastal zone. Our analysis suggests that mineralization is severely underestimated, and that the majority of carbon export from mangroves to adjacent waters occurs as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). CO2 efflux from sediments and creek waters and tidal export of DIC appear to be the major sinks. These processes are quantitatively comparable in magnitude to the unaccounted carbon sink in current budgets, but are not yet adequately constrained with the limited published data available so far.

/pdf/mangrove-production-and-carbon-sinks-a-revision-of-global-3ssso8s5i8.pdf

Mangrove Production and Carbon sinks: A revision of global budget estimates

Mangroves are ecologically and economically important forests of the tropics. They are highly productive ecosystems with rates of primary production equal to those of tropical humid evergreen forests and coral reefs. Although mangroves occupy only 0.5% of the global coastal area, they contribute 10–15% (24 Tg C y−1) to coastal sediment carbon storage and export 10–11% of the particulate terrestrial carbon to the ocean. Their disproportionate contribution to carbon sequestration is now perceived as a means for conservation and restoration and a way to help ameliorate greenhouse gas emissions. Of immediate concern are potential carbon losses to deforestation (90–970 Tg C y−1) that are greater than these ecosystems' rates of carbon storage. Large reservoirs of dissolved inorganic carbon in deep soils, pumped via subsurface pathways to adjacent waterways, are a large loss of carbon, at a potential rate up to 40% of annual primary production. Patterns of carbon allocation and rates of carbon flux in mangrove f...

Carbon Cycling and Storage in Mangrove Forests

/pdf/mangrove-production-and-carbon-sinks-a-revision-of-global-1bp8rlyclg.pdf

Mangrove production and carbon sinks : a revision of global budget estimates - art. no. GB2013

Allometry, biomass, and productivity of mangrove forests: A review

[1] Air-water CO2 fluxes were up-scaled to take into account the latitudinal and ecosystem diversity of the coastal ocean, based on an exhaustive literature survey. Marginal seas at high and temperate latitudes act as sinks of CO2 from the atmosphere, in contrast to subtropical and tropical marginal seas that act as sources of CO2 to the atmosphere. Overall, marginal seas act as a strong sink of CO2 of about −0.45 Pg C yr−1. This sink could be almost fully compensated by the emission of CO2 from the ensemble of near-shore coastal ecosystems of about 0.40 Pg C yr−1. Although this value is subject to large uncertainty, it stresses the importance of the diversity of ecosystems, in particular near-shore systems, when integrating CO2 fluxes at global scale in the coastal ocean.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2005GL023053

Budgeting sinks and sources of CO2 in the coastal ocean: Diversity of ecosystems counts

Fluxes of nutrients from the tropical River Hooghly at the land ocean boundary of Sundarbans, NE Coast of Bay of Bengal, India

Carbon sequestration and annual increase of carbon stock in a mangrove forest

The Sundarban mangrove forest (4,264 km 2 ) constitutes about 3% of the total area of the world mangrove. We measured diurnal and seasonal variations of air‐water CO2 exchange in relation to the occurrence of phytoplankton during January‐December 2001. Diurnal variations of airflows showed that the minimum and maximum CO2 flux of 216.2 mmol m 22 h 21 and 49.9 mmol m 22 h 21 , respectively, occurred during the higher sea breeze. The average ratio of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN 5 13.85 6 7.19 mmol L 21 ) to dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP 5 1.23 6 0.57 mmol L 21 ) was 11 6 4 and the surface water was undersaturated with respect to dissolved oxygen. The mean value of 0.1 6 0.08 for the ratio of phytoplankton production (P) to community respiration (R) indicated that the ecosystem was heterotrophic. The saturation of dissolved carbon dioxide with respect to the atmosphere varied seasonally between 59% and 156%, with minimum levels in postmonsoon and maximum levels in premonsoon/early monsoon (June/July). Out of the 36 genera of diatoms, 1 blue green alga, and 3 dinoflagellates that occurred throughout the year, only 6 reached bloom proportions in postmonsoon, when mangrove water was a sink of atmospheric CO2. Although 59.3% of the emitted CO2 was removed from the atmosphere by biological processes, on an annual basis, the Sundarban mangrove forest supplies 13.8 kg C ha 21 yr 21 of CO2 from water surface to the atmosphere. Even though it is important to compare all in and out fluxes, there is no direct link between CO 2 emission and the later CO2 removal by biological processes.

https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4319/lo.2004.49.1.0095

Sandip Mukhopadhyay

Papers

Fluxes of nutrients from the tropical River Hooghly at the land ocean boundary of Sundarbans, NE Coast of Bay of Bengal, India

Carbon sequestration and annual increase of carbon stock in a mangrove forest

Biogenic controls on the air—water carbon dioxide exchange in the Sundarban mangrove environment, northeast coast of Bay of Bengal, India

Contribution of mangroves to coastal carbon cycling in low latitude seas

Spatial and temporal patterns of methane dynamics in the tropical mangrove dominated estuary, NE coast of Bay of Bengal, India