Coastal landforms and accumulation of mangrove peat increase carbon sequestration and storage. Ezcurra, P., Ezcurra, E., Garcillán, P. P., Costa, M. T., & Aburto-Oropeza, O. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(16):4404–4409, April, 2016.
Coastal landforms and accumulation of mangrove peat increase carbon sequestration and storage [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Significance Despite their small height and stunted appearance, mangroves along the desert coasts of Baja California have compensated for sea-level rise during the last two millennia by accreting on their own root remains. In doing so, they have accumulated very large amounts of carbon in their sediments (900–3,000 Mg C/ha), often higher than that accumulated under tall, lush, tropical mangrove forests. Mangroves represent the largest carbon sink per unit area in Mexico’s northern drylands. Our results highlight the global importance of mangrove conservation in this region. , Given their relatively small area, mangroves and their organic sediments are of disproportionate importance to global carbon sequestration and carbon storage. Peat deposition and preservation allows some mangroves to accrete vertically and keep pace with sea-level rise by growing on their own root remains. In this study we show that mangroves in desert inlets in the coasts of the Baja California have been accumulating root peat for nearly 2,000 y and harbor a belowground carbon content of 900–34,00 Mg C/ha, with an average value of 1,130 (± 128) Mg C/ha, and a belowground carbon accumulation similar to that found under some of the tallest tropical mangroves in the Mexican Pacific coast. The depth–age curve for the mangrove sediments of Baja California indicates that sea level in the peninsula has been rising at a mean rate of 0.70 mm/y (± 0.07) during the last 17 centuries, a value similar to the rates of sea-level rise estimated for the Caribbean during a comparable period. By accreting on their own accumulated peat, these desert mangroves store large amounts of carbon in their sediments. We estimate that mangroves and halophyte scrubs in Mexico’s arid northwest, with less than 1% of the terrestrial area, store in their belowground sediments around 28% of the total belowground carbon pool of the whole region.
@article{ezcurra_coastal_2016,
	title = {Coastal landforms and accumulation of mangrove peat increase carbon sequestration and storage},
	volume = {113},
	issn = {0027-8424, 1091-6490},
	url = {https://pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1519774113},
	doi = {10.1073/pnas.1519774113},
	abstract = {Significance
            Despite their small height and stunted appearance, mangroves along the desert coasts of Baja California have compensated for sea-level rise during the last two millennia by accreting on their own root remains. In doing so, they have accumulated very large amounts of carbon in their sediments (900–3,000 Mg C/ha), often higher than that accumulated under tall, lush, tropical mangrove forests. Mangroves represent the largest carbon sink per unit area in Mexico’s northern drylands. Our results highlight the global importance of mangrove conservation in this region.
          , 
            Given their relatively small area, mangroves and their organic sediments are of disproportionate importance to global carbon sequestration and carbon storage. Peat deposition and preservation allows some mangroves to accrete vertically and keep pace with sea-level rise by growing on their own root remains. In this study we show that mangroves in desert inlets in the coasts of the Baja California have been accumulating root peat for nearly 2,000 y and harbor a belowground carbon content of 900–34,00 Mg C/ha, with an average value of 1,130 (± 128) Mg C/ha, and a belowground carbon accumulation similar to that found under some of the tallest tropical mangroves in the Mexican Pacific coast. The depth–age curve for the mangrove sediments of Baja California indicates that sea level in the peninsula has been rising at a mean rate of 0.70 mm/y (± 0.07) during the last 17 centuries, a value similar to the rates of sea-level rise estimated for the Caribbean during a comparable period. By accreting on their own accumulated peat, these desert mangroves store large amounts of carbon in their sediments. We estimate that mangroves and halophyte scrubs in Mexico’s arid northwest, with less than 1\% of the terrestrial area, store in their belowground sediments around 28\% of the total belowground carbon pool of the whole region.},
	language = {en},
	number = {16},
	urldate = {2023-06-15},
	journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences},
	author = {Ezcurra, Paula and Ezcurra, Exequiel and Garcillán, Pedro P. and Costa, Matthew T. and Aburto-Oropeza, Octavio},
	month = apr,
	year = {2016},
	keywords = {Terrestrial Ecoregions},
	pages = {4404--4409},
}

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