Increased Mineral‐Associated Organic Carbon and Persistent Molecules in Allochthonous Blue Carbon Ecosystems

Coastal wetlands contain very large carbon (C) stocks-termed as blue C-and their management has emerged as a promising nature-based solution for climate adaptation and mitigation. The interactions among sources, pools, and molecular compositions of soil organic C (SOC) within blue C ecosystems (BCEs) remain elusive. Here, we explore these interactions along an 18,000 km long coastal line of salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses in China. We found that mineral-associated organic C (MAOC) is enriched in BCEs dominated by allochthonous inputs and abundant active minerals, leading to an increased proportion of persistent organic molecules. Specifically, soils with large allochthonous inputs (> 50%) are characterized by a substantial contribution of MAOC (> 70%) to total SOC with a notable preservation of lipids (36%) across salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses. The burial of allochthonous particles, derived from external sources such as rivers or tidal influxes, facilitates the formation of stable MAOC through binding to mineral surfaces or occlusion within microaggregates. The proportions of particulate organic C (POC) and MAOC are important predictors for molecular compositions of soil organic matter. Lipid proportions within molecular composition decrease as POC and autochthonous C proportions increase. These findings provide new insights into the coupled control over SOC sequestration in BCEs, emphasizing the role of allochthonous inputs, proportions of carbon pools, and persistent organic components.

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Publication Details

Journal
Global Change Biology
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70019
Citations
22
Primary Topic
Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
37.76

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article

Increased Mineral‐Associated Organic Carbon and Persistent Molecules in Allochthonous Blue Carbon Ecosystems

Tony Vancov, Chenglong Ye, Lin Zeng, Chuancheng Fu et al.
22 citations
Global Change Biology
Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
37.76
article

Increased Mineral‐Associated Organic Carbon and Persistent Molecules in Allochthonous Blue Carbon Ecosystems

Tony Vancov, Chenglong Ye, Lin Zeng, Chuancheng Fu, Lukas Van Zwieten, Zhongkui Luo, Yakov Kuzyakov, Laodong Guo, Yu Luo, Zhaoliang Song, Hailong Wang, Weiqi Wang, Yuan Li, Yidong Wang, Guangxuan Han
article en
22 citations

Abstract

Coastal wetlands contain very large carbon (C) stocks-termed as blue C-and their management has emerged as a promising nature-based solution for climate adaptation and mitigation. The interactions among sources, pools, and molecular compositions of soil organic C (SOC) within blue C ecosystems (BCEs) remain elusive. Here, we explore these interactions along an 18,000 km long coastal line of salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses in China. We found that mineral-associated organic C (MAOC) is enriched in BCEs dominated by allochthonous inputs and abundant active minerals, leading to an increased proportion of persistent organic molecules. Specifically, soils with large allochthonous inputs (> 50%) are characterized by a substantial contribution of MAOC (> 70%) to total SOC with a notable preservation of lipids (36%) across salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses. The burial of allochthonous particles, derived from external sources such as rivers or tidal influxes, facilitates the formation of stable MAOC through binding to mineral surfaces or occlusion within microaggregates. The proportions of particulate organic C (POC) and MAOC are important predictors for molecular compositions of soil organic matter. Lipid proportions within molecular composition decrease as POC and autochthonous C proportions increase. These findings provide new insights into the coupled control over SOC sequestration in BCEs, emphasizing the role of allochthonous inputs, proportions of carbon pools, and persistent organic components.

Global Change BiologyVol. 31(1)
Fujian Normal University (CN), Nanjing Agricultural University (CN), Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RU), Foshan University (CN), Tianjin Normal University (CN), Tianjin University (CN), Ludong University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (AU), Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (CN), Institute of Soil Science (CN), University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (US), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA), University of Göttingen (DE), Zhejiang University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
37.76
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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