Mangroves punch well above their weight when it comes to carbon-storing ability. Though they cover less than 1 percent of the Earth\u2019s surface, these coastal forests stash roughly 15 percent of all ocean carbon, mostly in the soil. Mangroves\u2019 dense jumbles of roots trap sediment and help the trees handle inundation amid the daily rise and fall of the tides.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Past<\/a> research<\/a> has shown that some sea level rise may actually increase carbon storage and mangrove growth in some parts of the ecosystem. However, the new study, published this week in the journal Earth\u2019s Future, found that carbon storage across an entire mangrove forest will likely decrease as suitable habitat shrinks and more mangroves die. Parts of these forests may even start emitting carbon instead of capturing it, said co-author Barend van Maanen.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is that sea level rise can have drastic impacts on mangrove habitats and on carbon,\u201d said van Maanen, a coastal researcher at the University of Exeter in England. \u201cSea level rise and increased inundation can push [the forests] beyond their limits, and they won\u2019t be able to tolerate this.\u201d<\/p>\n To study this, the researchers developed a new model that incorporates many of the complex physical processes in mangrove ecosystems, including water flow from rivers and the ocean, sediment movement and landscape changes due to erosion and sedimentation. They also incorporated the carbon dynamics playing out across the forest, which includes the reserves stored in the tree itself as well as copious amounts stowed away in the fallen leaves, twigs and roots that accumulate and decompose in the soil.<\/p>\n The researchers then tested their simulation against various rates of sea level rise. The results were clear: the higher the levels, the more negative the impacts.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the key message is that local increases in carbon accumulation do not necessarily mean that the whole mangrove ecosystem will store more carbon in the long term,\u201d study co-author Arya Iwantoro, a senior research consultant in coastal modeling at the University of Plymouth in England, said in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[E]ven within one mangrove ecosystem, different areas can respond differently depending on their position in the landscape, especially their proximity to channels and sediment sources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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