The nature of soil blue carbon varies across mangrove geomorphic settings
Abstract Mangrove forests store significant amounts of blue carbon, mainly as soil organic matter. Insights into mangrove organic matter are limited, despite its importance for understanding blue carbon accumulation and vulnerability to global change. Here, we quantified soil organic matter preserved through chemical recalcitrance and association with the mineral phase, as key factors influencing blue carbon persistence. We found that the nature of the soil organic matter varied with mangrove geomorphic settings. Delta settings were dominated by presumably the most persistent soil organic matter associated with minerals, while open coast karstic settings contained mostly particulate soil organic matter, likely preserved due to low microbial activity. Across mangrove soil depths, there was little difference in soil organic matter pools. The soil organic matter pool across mangroves’ geomorphic settings exhibited greater variation than that observed across all terrestrial biomes. These findings underscore the need to tailor mangrove conservation and restoration to geomorphic settings.
Authors
- Tuhin Bhadra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0493-2078)
- Cornélia Rumpel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2131-9451)
- Samuel Abiven (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5663-0912)
- Amrit Kumar Mishra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9605-3865)
- Syed Hilal Farooq (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1769-024X)
- Axel Felbacq (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5611-6606)
- Marie Arnaud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4001-6499)
- Ahmad Aldrie Amir (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9184-0317)
- T.T. Yen Le (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1465-4406)
- Sarah Louise Robin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2662-5730)
- Catherine E. Lovelock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2219-6855)
- Nicolas Bottinelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4944-9696)
- Marion Maceiras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4266-9581)
- Cyril Marchand
- Dang Thuong-Huyen
Institutions
- University of New Caledonia (NC)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR)
- École Normale Supérieure - PSL (FR)
- Adamas University (IN)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Institut d'écologie et des sciences de l'environnement de Paris (FR)
- Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Engineering (VN)
- Cereep Ecotron Île-de-France (FR)
- Laboratoire de Géologie de l’École Normale Supérieure (FR)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (VN)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- James Cook University (AU)
- National University of Malaysia (MY)
- Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (IN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Earth & Environment
- Published
- 2025-09-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02531-7
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.43
Funders
- European Commission
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique