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Greenhouse Gas Fluxes of Mangrove Soils and Adjacent Coastal Waters in an Urban, Subtropical Estuary

  • Wetlands and Climate Change
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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.

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Acknowledgments

Our research could not have been undertaken without the support of the public corporation Caño Martín Peña ENLACE Project (ENLACE), community organization G-8 and the guidance of Dr. Ariel Lugo, United States Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry. We appreciated the support of Susan Yee, the lead of the SHC San Juan Bay project and field support of Katelyn Szura. Ken Miller provided statistical support, Patricia DeCastro graphics design, and Mike Charpentier GIS support. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Any mention of trade name and products does not imply an endorsement by the U.S. Government or the U.S. EPA. The EPA does not endorse any commercial products, services, or enterprises. This report is Office of Research and Development (ORD) Tracking Number ORD-026602 and it has been reviewed technically by the US EPA’s Office of Research and Development, Center for Environmental Measurement and Monitoring, Atlantic Coastal Environmental Sciences Division.

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Martin, R.M., Wigand, C., Oczkowski, A. et al. Greenhouse Gas Fluxes of Mangrove Soils and Adjacent Coastal Waters in an Urban, Subtropical Estuary. Wetlands 40, 1469–1480 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-020-01300-w

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