Mangroves play a vital role in the health of our planet. Trees and shrubs absorb large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, help protect communities from rising sea levels, and serve as nurseries for young fish.
These coastal forests are the second most carbon-rich ecosystem in the world, storing more than 1,000 tons of carbon in just one hectare—about the size of a football field.
They do this by capturing chemical elements from the air and storing them in leaves, branches, trunks and roots. But despite environmental efforts to prevent the loss of these vital ecosystems, they remain at risk.
system
a new one studydriven by the University of Portsmouth and research institutes Operation Wallacerevealing the storage carbon of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere2 In large wood chips, processed by organisms.
The findings suggest that climate collapse could significantly affect this “blue carbon” system — the carbon stored in coastal and ocean systems.
Scientists from the University of Portsmouth have analysed large woody debris (LWD) in mangrove forests in four different intertidal zones in Wakatobi National Park in Indonesia.
Each survey area has up to 8 sections (transects) – each section demonstrates its own carbon treatment.
Upstream in the ecosystem, close to land, the team found that organisms typically found in tropical rainforests were decomposing fallen wood.
These include fungi, beetle larvae and termites. Closer to the ocean, LWD is being degraded more quickly by worm-like clams with calcium carbonate shells called boatworms.
dissolve
Two consequences of climate collapse could affect the delicate processes that fix carbon degradation in mangroves. The first is sea level rise, as the carbon cycle is driven by rising tides.
The second is the increase in ocean acidity caused by elevated CO2 in the atmosphere, which can dissolve the shells of downstream wood-degrading marine organisms.
