Below ground carbon stock of mangrove stands of a mining site in Hinatuan Island, Northeastern Mindanao, Philippines

Abstract Mangrove ecosystem provides important services such as storing and sequestering large amount of carbon. However, it faces several anthropogenic pressures especially from resource extractive activities that threatened the ecosystem. Hence, huge companies are obliged to make rehabilitation efforts to rehabilitate the mangrove ecosystem that they have caused damage. Our study aims to determine the carbon stock dynamics of a mangrove rehabilitated site which was damaged due to the siltation brought by the nearby mining. We established a study plot in a mangrove rehabilitated site (Lipata) near the mining area and on a nearby natural mangrove forest (cagutsan) as a point of reference. We determine the mean DBH, height and estimated the soil carbon storage capacities. We found out that in both sites of rehabilitated (Lipata) and natural (Cagutsan) mangrove stand the Rhizophora mucronata is the most dominant, both has similar mean dhb of 6 cm and the height is mostly dominated by. The soil C content shows that as the soil gets deeper up to 50-100 cm the higher the soil carbon content. There was no significant variation in terms of the average soil carbon content of the rehabilitated site is 42.63 MgC/Ha and the natural mangrove stand of 53.59 MgC/Ha. Hence the finding supports the effectiveness of the rehabilitation efforts and calls for continuous rehabilitation of damaged mangrove sites in the area.