Potential for Carbon and Nitrogen Sequestration by Restoring Tidal Connectivity and Enhancing Soil Surface Elevations in Denuded and Degraded South Florida Mangrove Ecosystems

Wetlands cover a small portion of the world, but have disproportionate influence on global carbon (C) sequestration, carbon dioxide and methane emissions, and aquatic C fluxes. However, the underlying biogeochemical processes that affect wetland C pools and fluxes are complex and dynamic, making measurements of wetland C challenging. Over decades of research, many observational, experimental, and analytical approaches have been developed to understand and quantify pools and fluxes of wetland C. Sampling approaches range in their representation of wetland C from short to long timeframes and local to landscape spatial scales. This review summarizes common and cutting-edge methodological approaches for quantifying wetland C pools and fluxes. We first define each of the major C pools and fluxes and provide rationale for their importance to wetland C dynamics. For each approach, we clarify what component of wetland C is measured and its spatial and temporal representativeness and constraints. We describe practical considerations for each approach, such as where and when an approach is typically used, who can conduct the measurements (expertise, training requirements), and how approaches are conducted, including considerations on equipment complexity and costs. Finally, we review key covariates and ancillary measurements that enhance the interpretation of findings and facilitate model development. The protocols that we describe to measure soil, water, vegetation, and gases are also relevant for related disciplines such as ecology. Improved quality and consistency of data collection and reporting across studies will help reduce global uncertainties and develop management strategies to use wetlands as nature-based climate solutions.

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Mangrove Surface Elevation Loss after Tree fall during Extreme Weather

Bennion,

Hill,

Lovelock

2024

Wetlands

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Fringing mangrove forests are likely to experience increasingly severe weather events under climate change, including an increased frequency of tropical storms that may lead to mangrove mortality. Mangrove mortality can result in soil surface elevation loss through the death and compaction of roots, which can in turn alter the hydrology of the ecosystem and reduce its resilience to sea-level rise. In subtropical Queensland, Australia, an extreme weather event in early 2021 resulted in the death and toppling of large Avicennia marina trees on a creek edge in mainland Quandamooka (Moreton Bay). A set of three rod surface elevation tables were located meters away from the uprooted mangroves and were opportunistically measured for twenty months after the tree deaths. Surface elevation in the mangrove forest decreased by 26.3 ± 3.59 mm year− 1 following the severe weather event, when estimated using a traditional annualization approach for surface elevation loss data. Loss estimates using generalised additive models were able to account for non-linear change in surface elevation and were of the same direction as annualised estimates but an order of magnitude lower (-4.82 ± 0.03 mm year− 1). Surface elevation loss was the result of local root compaction, and subsequent recovery of elevation was the result of mangrove forest recovery through neighbouring tree root growth and canopy infilling. This study was the first to follow the change in soil surface elevation after the uprooting of A. marina at a single tree scale, providing insights for mangrove forest resilience under future sea-level rise.

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Potential for Carbon and Nitrogen Sequestration by Restoring Tidal Connectivity and Enhancing Soil Surface Elevations in Denuded and Degraded South Florida Mangrove Ecosystems

Cited by 7 publications

References 53 publications

Summary of Wetland Carbon and Environmental Management

Summary of Wetland Carbon and Environmental Management

Practical Guide to Measuring Wetland Carbon Pools and Fluxes

Mangrove Surface Elevation Loss after Tree fall during Extreme Weather

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