Seascape connectivity with mangroves positively influences tropical saltmarsh blue carbon stocks
Mishra, Amrit Kumar, Dey, Arindam, Mishra, Anjalis, Mohakud, Sandip Kumar, and Farooq, Syed Hilal (2025) Seascape connectivity with mangroves positively influences tropical saltmarsh blue carbon stocks. Science of the Total Environment, 969. 178929.
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Abstract
Despite exponential increase in global blue carbon studies over the last decade, critical knowledge gaps remain regarding the role of drivers such as seascape connectivity that mediate the carbon storage in tropical saltmarsh ecosystems. The present study addresses this knowledge gap by investigating how seascape-level drivers, specifically connectivity between ecosystems, sediment traits and plant biomass, influence carbon stocks, in connected versus individual tropical saltmarsh (Porteresia coarctata and Myrostachia wightiana) meadows. This study compared the influence of connected saltmarsh meadows (adjacent to mangroves) with individual saltmarsh meadows across four tropical locations and assessed their carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content in sediment, biomass, various plant traits and C stocks. Stable isotopes tracers (<sup>13</sup>C and <sup>15</sup>N) were used to determine the C contribution from autochthonous and allochthonous carbon sources. Connectivity resulted in increased of plant shoot density, and biomass by 1.7-fold and 1.5-fold respectively than individual saltmarsh meadows. Connectivity resulted in 2.3-fold higher C<inf>org</inf> stocks (sediment + biomass) than individual meadows. Connectivity increased the below -ground biomass contribution to sediment C pool by 2 to 10 %, whereas the combined contribution of mangrove leaf biomass was between 7.8 and 26.8 % in both saltmarsh species probably depending on the mangrove density, leaf litterfall and organic matter trapping efficiency of these saltmarsh species. The study underscores the positive role of seascape connectivity with mangroves in enhancing the carbon stocks in tropical saltmarsh ecosystems.
| Item ID: | 88221 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1879-1026 |
| Keywords: | Carbon stocks, Connectivity, Myrostachia wightiana, Nature-based Solution, Porteresia coarctata, Saltmarsh, Stable isotopes |
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| Copyright Information: | © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Apr 2026 00:28 |
| FoR Codes: | 37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3702 Climate change science > 370299 Climate change science not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180201 Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems @ 100% |
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