The importance of blue carbon soil stocks in tropical semiarid mangroves: a case study in Northeastern Brazil

Environmental Earth Sciences volume 78, Article number: 369 (2019) Cite this article

Abstract

This study aims to quantify soil organic C density (SOCD) in tropical semiarid mangroves and to compare these results to SOCD under the main tropical semiarid vegetation units (VU), aiming to better understand the role of semiarid mangroves in C sequestration, as well as to provide a basis for a better quantification of human impacts on this ecosystem. SOCD was quantified in two sets of calculations: at a 40-cm soil depth and considering the same soil mass (equivalent SOC). Mangroves can be considered the main organic C sink in the tropical semiarid environment, storing twice as much organic C per area as semiarid VUs, when considering the upper 40-cm soil layer and almost 6 times as much organic C per area when considering the same soil mass. Anthropogenic impacts (disposal of nutrients and vegetation removal) on the studied mangroves decreased SOCD and resulted in a 4.94 ± 0.74 Tg CO2 emission, equivalent to 5.2% of the Brazilian annual CO2 emission by fossil fuels. Compared to mangroves from tropical humid regions, SOCD in tropical semiarid mangroves is considerably lower.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the financial support offered by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Grant number 2017/08101-1), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Grant number 308288/2014-9), and CRETUS strategic group (AGRUP2015/02), as well as all the people who helped in the development of this work. This study was partly financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001. The authors are thankful to the Editor and anonymous Reviewers for their constructive comments to improve the manuscript.

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  1. Graduate Program in Earth Sciences (Geochemistry), Department of Geochemistry, Federal Fluminense University, Chemistry Institute-5th. Floor, Outeiro St. John the Baptist s/n-Centro, Niterói, RJ, CEP: 24020-141, Brazil

    Gabriel N. Nóbrega

  2. Departamento de Ciência do Solo, Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil

    Gabriel N. Nóbrega & Tiago O. Ferreira

  3. Laboratório de Biogeoquímica Ambiental, Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil

    Marcos Siqueira Neto

  4. Departamento de Agronomia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Alegre, Espírito Santo, Brazil

    Eduardo de S. Mendonça

  5. Departamento de Ciências do Solo, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus do Pici, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil

    Ricardo E. Romero

  6. Departamento Edafoloxía e Química Agrícola, Facultade de Bioloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Campus sur, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Xosé L. Otero

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  1. Gabriel N. Nóbrega
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Nóbrega, G.N., Ferreira, T.O., Siqueira Neto, M. et al. The importance of blue carbon soil stocks in tropical semiarid mangroves: a case study in Northeastern Brazil. Environ Earth Sci 78, 369 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-019-8368-z

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Keywords

  • Soil organic carbon
  • Semiarid climate mangroves
  • Wetlands
  • Blue carbon sinks