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Mangrove restoration built soil organic carbon stocks over six decades: a chronosequence study

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Mangrove restoration has been suggested to have a great potential for global change mitigation due to the large carbon sequestration capacity of mangroves. However, the temporal and spatial dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) storage following mangrove restoration remains less examined and reported. To fill the knowledge gap, this study examined the SOC stocks and soil physicochemical properties among bare mudflats and adjacent mangroves at different stand ages.

Methods

We collected soil cores from bare mudflats and adjacent 7-, 10-, 15-, and 60-year-old mangroves on Ximen Island, Zhejiang Province, China. SOC, pH, salinity, particle size, and dry bulk density were determined. The analysis of variance was used to test for significant differences in above parameters among mangroves with different ages and mudflats. Pearson’s correlation was conducted to assess the relationship of SOC contents and other soil physicochemical properties.

Results

Our results showed that SOC stock increased exponentially following restoration, reaching an asymptotic trend after 15-year mangrove restoration. The 60-year-old mangrove forests had significantly higher SOC stocks (94.31 ± 4.99 Mg OC ha−1) compared to the unvegetated mudflat (76.25 ± 1.65 Mg SOC ha−1) and the 7-year-old transplanted sites (79.04 ± 5.30 Mg OC ha−1). Soil salinity, pH, and bulk density increased significantly within the whole depth, except decreasing trend of salinity in lower depth (> 25 cm). Soil texture was finer in mudflats and early stages of mangrove plantations than that in other sites.

Conclusion

This study indicated that mangrove transplantation can substantially enhance SOC stocks within 15 years after afforestation. These results provide key data on the effectiveness of mangrove afforestation on carbon sequestration to inform blue carbon policies.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciate the thoughtful comments and constructive suggestions from Editor-in-Chief and three reviewers. We are grateful to Runjie Jin, Li Song, Zhanjiang Ye, Qi Li, Yuxuan Liu, Guangwei Chen, Nuttiga Hempattarasuwan, and Min Luo for their assistance with field work.

Funding

This work was supported partially by the Ministry of Natural Resources of China (Blue Carbon Initiative and Policy), the Research Project of Donghai Laboratory (DH2022ZY0003), and the MOFCOM Scholarship (Ministry of Commerce, China). OS was supported by I + D + i projects RYC2019-027073-I and PIE HOLOCENO 20213AT014 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ocean College, Zhejiang University, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China

    Kyaw Thura, Jiali Gu, Hein Zar Htwe, Yaojia Zhu, Runqiu Huang & Jiaping Wu

  2. Group of Aquatic Macrophytes Ecology, Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Blanes, Girona, Spain

    Oscar Serrano

  3. School of Science, Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia

    Oscar Serrano

  4. NSW Department of Primary Industries, Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Menangle, Australia

    Yunying Fang

  5. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, China

    Susana Agusti & Carlos M. Duarte

  6. Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Hailong Wang

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  1. Kyaw Thura
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Thura, K., Serrano, O., Gu, J. et al. Mangrove restoration built soil organic carbon stocks over six decades: a chronosequence study. J Soils Sediments 23, 1193–1203 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03418-2

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