Greenhouse Gas Fluxes of Mangrove Soils and Adjacent Coastal Waters in an Urban, Subtropical Estuary
- PDF / 2,349,103 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 93 Downloads / 252 Views
WETLANDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Greenhouse Gas Fluxes of Mangrove Soils and Adjacent Coastal Waters in an Urban, Subtropical Estuary Rose M. Martin 1,2,3 & Cathleen Wigand 2 & Autumn Oczkowski 2 & Alana Hanson 2 & Stephen Balogh 2 & Benjamin Branoff 4 & Emily Santos 5 & Evelyn Huertas 6 Received: 19 December 2019 / Accepted: 31 March 2020 # US Government 2020
Abstract Mangroves are known to sequester carbon at rates exceeding even those of other tropical forests; however, to understand carbon cycling in these systems, soil-atmosphere fluxes and gas exchanges in mangrove-adjacent shallow waters need to be quantified. Further, despite the ever-increasing impact of development on mangrove systems, there is even less data on how subtropical, greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes are affected by urbanization. We quantified carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes from mangrove soils and adjacent, coastal waters along a gradient of urbanization in the densely-populated, subtropical San Juan Bay Estuary (PR). Edaphic (salinity, pH, surface temperature) factors among sites significantly covaried with GHG fluxes. We found that mangrove systems in more highly-urbanized reaches of the estuary were characterized by relatively lower porewater salinities and substantially larger GHG emissions, particularly CH4, which has a high global warming potential. The magnitude of the CO2 emissions was similar in the mangrove soils and adjacent waters, but the CH4 emissions in the adjacent waters were an order of magnitude higher than in the soils and showed a marked response to urbanization. This study underscores the importance of considering GHG emissions of adjacent waters in carbon cycling dynamics in urbanized, tropical mangrove systems. Keywords Methane . Carbon dioxide . Urban ecosystems . Mangrove . Greenhouse gas . Cavity Ringdown spectroscopy . Carbon sequestration . Carbon cycling
Introduction Urban mangroves such as those in the San Juan Bay Estuary in Puerto Rico are associated with densely populated watersheds and are especially unique in their potential to provide valuable ecosystem services to many people (Branoff 2019). * Cathleen Wigand [email protected] 1
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Participant, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
2
US EPA, Atlantic Coastal Environmental Sciences Division, Narragansett, RI, USA
3
Dataquest Labs, San Francisco, CA, USA
4
US EPA, Gulf Ecosystem Measurement and Modeling Division, Gulf Breeze, FL, USA
5
Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA, USA
6
US EPA, Caribbean Environmental Protection Division, Guaynabo, PR, USA
Some of the services provided include carbon sequestration, bird and wildlife habitat, shade (moderating temperature), improved air quality, reduced runoff and flooding, and aesthetic appeal, which increase the economic value of properties and quality of life of urban residents (Barbier et al. 2011; Brandeis et al. 2014). Highly productive ecosystems, including tropical forests and coastal wetlands, have the potential to sequester abundant carbon (C) and therefore
Data Loading...
