2008/05/08 by Steven Bouillon, Alberto V. Borges, Alberto Borges +13 · 1,282 citations
Chemistry · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Biology #Blue carbon #Carbon cycle #Carbon dioxide #Carbon fibers #Carbon sequestration #Carbon sink #Chemistry #Coastal and Marine Dynamics #Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics #Dissolved organic carbon #Ecology #Ecosystem #Environmental chemistry #Environmental science #Geography #Geology #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Mangrove #Mineralization (soil science) #Oceanography #Primary production #Sink (geography) #Soil science #Total organic carbon
paper · pdf · doi:10.1029/2007gb003052
published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 22(2) (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2008/05/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Mangrove forests are highly productive but globally threatened coastal ecosystems, whose role in the carbon budget of the coastal zone has long been debated. Here we provide a comprehensive synthesis of the available data on carbon fluxes in mangrove ecosystems. A reassessment of global mangrove primary production from the literature results in a conservative estimate of ∼218 ± 72 Tg C a −1 . When using the best available estimates of various carbon sinks (organic carbon export, sediment burial, and mineralization), it appears that >50% of the carbon fixed by mangrove vegetation is unaccounted for. This unaccounted carbon sink is conservatively estimated at ∼112 ± 85 Tg C a −1 , equivalent in magnitude to ∼30–40% of the global riverine organic carbon input to the coastal zone. Our analysis suggests that mineralization is severely underestimated, and that the majority of carbon export from mangroves to adjacent waters occurs as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). CO 2 efflux from sediments and creek waters and tidal export of DIC appear to be the major sinks. These processes are quantitatively comparable in magnitude to the unaccounted carbon sink in current budgets, but are not yet adequately constrained with the limited published data available so far.