Mangrove production and carbon sinks: A revision of global budget estimates

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…

• NI
  Nederlands Instituut voor Ecologie
• KN
  Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen
• FW
  Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
• VR
  Vlaamse regering