Abstract

MORALES-OJEDA, Sara María; HERRERA-SILVEIRA, Jorge A.  and  ORELLANA, Roger. Carbon stocks in a karst wetlandscape along a transverse coastal corridor in the Yucatan Peninsula. Madera bosques [online]. 2021, vol.27, n.spe, e2742425.  Epub Feb 21, 2022. ISSN 2448-7597.  https://doi.org/10.21829/myb.2021.2742425.

Coastal wetlands are dynamic, and exhibit spatial variation associated to the intensity of the land-ocean interactions. These wetlands are highly productive, and support relevant environmental services related to anthropogenic climate change mitigation. From a landscape point of view, and assuming that connectivity among coastal processes does exist among coastal processes, the evaluations of the aboveground and belowground C stocks were carried out in eight landscape units, along a wetland continuum located at the northern coast of Yucatan, called “coastal transverse corridor”. The ecosystem C stock for the corridor was 3 837 160 Mg C. The dwarf mangrove presented the largest total carbon stock per unit area (371 Mg C ha-1), being also the dominant in extension. The gradient of the aboveground C stocks followed flood patterns, the elevation of the wetland, interstitial salinity, and the specific tolerance of the species. The mangroves stored more carbon per hectare than wetlands dominated by emergent herbaceous and submerged vegetation. The first ones were dominated by production and accumulation rates of C, while the other two, were dominated by the production, and the recycling which caused a low C storage. The results of this study contribute to the understanding of the C stocks patterns in the salinity and topographic gradients along karst coastal wetlands. The results could be used to evaluate the potential of local and regional effects in the medium and long term caused by natural and anthropogenic impacts.

Keywords : aboveground biomass; blue carbon; mangroves; marshlands; seagrasses; sediment.

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