Biomass and carbon stocks in mangrove stands of Kadalundi estuarine wetland, south-west coast of India

Abstract

Mangroves are keystone ecosystems which provide numerous environmental services. Mangroves assume significance as standing stores of sequestered atmospheric carbon and are therefore, important in the light of climate change mitigation. In this study, we attempted to assess the biomass of mangroves in the Kadalundi wetland, south-west coast of India and evaluated the potential of these mangroves to sequester and store carbon. The C-stocks of above-ground and root biomass were 83.32±11.06 t C ha-1 and 34.96±4.30 t C ha-1 respectively, while the C-stock in sediment was estimated to be 63.87±8.67 t C ha-1. The estimates of mean combined C-stocks in the mangrove biomass and sediment of Kadalundi shows that this estuarine mangrove wetland stored 182.15 t C ha-1, which was equivalent to 668.48 t CO2 ha-1. The mangroves which cover an area of 13.23 ha in the Kadalundi wetland is assumed to have a potential to sequester and store a substantial quantity of 2,409.84 t C which is equivalent to 8,844.11 t CO2. The study underscores the importance of these intertidal forests for climate change mitigation and stresses the importance of protecting the mangroves which provide many other important ecosystem services that benefit communities.

Assessment of Biomass and Carbon Stocks in Mangroves of Thalassery Estuarine Wetland of Kerala, South West Coast of India

“…The above-ground carbon pools obtained for the mangroves of Thalassery wetland during the present study (94.63±48.90 t C ha -1 ) were almost comparable with that of the studies of Vinod et al (2018) for Kadalundi wetland, India (83.32 t C ha -1 ) and Kauffman et al (2011) for Micronesian mangrove forests at Palau (104.4 t C ha -1 ). However, the present value was much lower when compared to the Micronesian mangrove forests at Yap (Kauffman et al 2011;169.2 t C ha -1 ).…”

“…resinifera); Murdiyarso et al (2009) for the mangroves of North Sulawesi (61.4 t ha -1 ) and Sahu, Manish Kumar, and Ravindranath (2016) for the mangroves of Mahanadi mangrove wetland of India (124.91 t ha -1 in natural mangroves and 125.55 t ha -1 in planted mangrove stands). However, the present mean AGB values are almost comparable with the mean AGB value of 166.63 t ha -1 obtained for Kadalundi estuary, south-west coast of India (Vinod et al, 2018), 159 t ha -1 obtained for Rhizophora apiculata in Thailand (Christensen, 1978).…”

“…The DBH values obtained during the present study for A. officinalis, E. agallocha and A. corniculatum were much lower when compared to the values obtained by Sahu, Manish Kumar, and Ravindranath (2016) for the same species in the Mahanadi mangrove wetland in the east coast of India. The DBH values obtained for A. officinalis, S. alba, R. mucronata and E. agallocha in the present study are however comparable to the results obtained by Vinod et al (2018) for the same species in Kadalundi estuarine wetland. Species-wise comparison of the total carbon stock revealed that A. officinalis had the highest value of 45.05±23.79 t C ha -1 , closely followed by the carbon values of S. alba (44.48±30.71 t C ha -1 ).…”

“…The overall mean carbon stock of root biomass (41.53±20.24 t C ha -1 ) obtained during the present study is higher when compared to the values obtained for the mangrove stands of Kadalundi wetland, India (34.96±4.30 t C ha -1 ; Vinod et al, 2018), southern China (21.4 t C ha -1 , Chen et al, 2012), Mahanadi Mangrove Wetland, India (27.86 t C ha -1 for planted and 26.69 t C ha -1 for natural mangrove stands, Sahu, Manish Kumar, and Ravindranath, 2016) and Tamil Nadu, India (12.9 to 18.1 t C ha -1 , Kathiresan et al, 2013). However, the C-stock of root biomass obtained in Yap by Kauffman et al (2011) was much higher than the present value obtained for the mangroves of Thalassery wetland.…”

“…Species-wise comparison of the total carbon stock revealed that A. officinalis had the highest value of 45.05±23.79 t C ha -1 , closely followed by the carbon values of S. alba (44.48±30.71 t C ha -1 ). Highest carbon stock in A. officinalis was recorded even in the Kadalundi estuarine wetland (Vinod et al, 2018), as this species had the highest tree density as well as DBH. The overall mean above-ground biomass of mangroves of Thalassery estuarine wetland (189.26±97.80 t ha -1 ) recorded during the present study was much lower when compared to the above-ground biomass obtained by Kauffman et al (2011) for the Micronesian mangroves (363 t ha -1 at Yap and 225 t ha -1 at Palau).…”