Atwood, Trisha; Connolly, Rod M.; Almahasheer, Hanan; Carnell, Paul E.; Duarte, Carlos M. ; Lewis, Carolyn J. Ewers; Irigoien, Xabier; Kelleway, Jeffrey J.; Lavery, Paul S.; Macreadie, Peter I.; Serrano, Oscar ; Sanders, Christian J.; Santos, Isaac; Steven, Andy D. L.; Lovelock, Catherine E. Nature Climate Change : DOI:10.1038/NCLIMATE3326 DIGITAL CSIC
Mangrove soils represent a large sink for otherwise rapidly recycled carbon (C). However, widespread deforestation threatens the preservation of this important C stock. It is therefore imperative that global patterns in mangrove soil C stocks and their susceptibility to remineralization are understood. Here, we present patterns in mangrove soil C stocks across hemispheres, latitudes, countries and mangrove community compositions, and estimate potential annual CO2 emissions for countries where mangroves occur. Global potential CO2 emissions from soils as a result of mangrove loss were estimated to be 7.0 Tg CO2e yr1. Countries with the highest potential CO2 emissions from soils are Indonesia (3,410 Gg CO2e yr1) and Malaysia (1,288 Gg CO2e yr1). The patterns described serve as a baseline by which countries can assess their mangrove soil C stocks and potential emissions from mangrove deforestation.