Colonization by native species enhances the carbon storage capacity of exotic mangrove monocultures

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Author(s)
He, Z
Sun, H
Peng, Y
Hu, Z
Cao, Y
Lee, SY
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2020
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Background: The fast-growing introduced mangrove Sonneratia apetala is widely used for mangrove afforestation and reforestation in China. Some studies suggested that this exotic species outperforms native species in terms of carbon sequestration potential. This study tested the hypothesis that multi-species mangrove plantations might have higher carbon sequestration potential than S. apetala monocultures. Results: Our field measurements at Hanjiang River Estuary (Guangdong province, China) showed that the carbon stock (46.0 ± 3.0 Mg/ha) in S. apetala plantations where the native Kandelia obovata formed an understory shrub ...
View more >Background: The fast-growing introduced mangrove Sonneratia apetala is widely used for mangrove afforestation and reforestation in China. Some studies suggested that this exotic species outperforms native species in terms of carbon sequestration potential. This study tested the hypothesis that multi-species mangrove plantations might have higher carbon sequestration potential than S. apetala monocultures. Results: Our field measurements at Hanjiang River Estuary (Guangdong province, China) showed that the carbon stock (46.0 ± 3.0 Mg/ha) in S. apetala plantations where the native Kandelia obovata formed an understory shrub layer was slightly higher than that in S. apetala monocultures (36.6 ± 1.3 Mg/ha). Moreover, the carbon stock in monospecific K. obovata stands (106.6 ± 1.4 Mg/ha) was much larger than that of S. apetala monocultures. Conclusions: Our results show that K. obovata monocultures may have a higher carbon accumulation rate than S. apetala monocultures. Planting K. obovata seedlings in existing S. apetala plantations may enhance the carbon sink associated with these plantations.
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View more >Background: The fast-growing introduced mangrove Sonneratia apetala is widely used for mangrove afforestation and reforestation in China. Some studies suggested that this exotic species outperforms native species in terms of carbon sequestration potential. This study tested the hypothesis that multi-species mangrove plantations might have higher carbon sequestration potential than S. apetala monocultures. Results: Our field measurements at Hanjiang River Estuary (Guangdong province, China) showed that the carbon stock (46.0 ± 3.0 Mg/ha) in S. apetala plantations where the native Kandelia obovata formed an understory shrub layer was slightly higher than that in S. apetala monocultures (36.6 ± 1.3 Mg/ha). Moreover, the carbon stock in monospecific K. obovata stands (106.6 ± 1.4 Mg/ha) was much larger than that of S. apetala monocultures. Conclusions: Our results show that K. obovata monocultures may have a higher carbon accumulation rate than S. apetala monocultures. Planting K. obovata seedlings in existing S. apetala plantations may enhance the carbon sink associated with these plantations.
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Journal Title
Carbon Balance and Management
Volume
15
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
Subject
Biological Oceanography
Freshwater Ecology