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1. Annual Lateral Organic Carbon Exchange Between Salt Marsh and Adjacent Water: A Case Study of East Headland Marshes at the Yangtze Estuary

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.809618  

   Yuan, Yiquan; Li, Xiuzhen; Xie, Zuolun; Xue, Liming; Yang, Bin; Zhao, Wenzhen; Craft, Christopher B. (January 2022, Frontiers in Marine Science)

   Blue carbon (C) ecosystems (mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass beds) sequester high amounts of C, which can be respired back into the atmosphere, buried for long periods, or exported to adjacent ecosystems by tides. The lateral exchange of C between a salt marsh and adjacent water is a key factor that determines whether a salt marsh is a C source (i.e., outwelling) or sink in an estuary. We measured salinity, particulate organic carbon (POC), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) seasonally over eight tidal cycles in a tidal creek at the Chongming Dongtan wetland from July 2017 to April 2018 to determine whether the marsh was a source or sink for estuarine C. POC and DOC fluxes were significantly correlated in the four seasons driven by water fluxes, but the concentration of DOC and POC were positively correlated only in autumn and winter. DOC and POC concentrations were the highest in autumn (3.54 mg/L and 4.19 mg/L, respectively) and the lowest in winter and spring (1.87 mg/L and 1.51 mg/L, respectively). The tidal creek system in different seasons showed organic carbon (OC) export, and the organic carbon fluxes during tidal cycles ranged from –12.65 to 4.04 g C/m². The intensity showed significant seasonal differences, with the highest in summer, the second in autumn, and the lowest in spring. In different seasons, organic carbon fluxes during spring tides were significantly higher than that during neap tides. Due to the tidal asymmetry of the Yangtze River estuary and the relatively young stage, the salt marshes in the study area acted as a strong lateral carbon source. 

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2. Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Storage of Hydrologically Altered Mangrove Wetlands in Puerto Rico after a Hurricane

   https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10091965  

   Griffiths, Lauren N.; Hernandez, Elix; Cuevas, Elvira; Mitsch, William J. (September 2021, Plants)

   Mangrove wetlands are important ecosystems, yet human development coupled with climate change threatens mangroves and their large carbon stores. This study seeks to understand the soil carbon dynamics in hydrologically altered mangrove swamps by studying aboveground biomass estimates and belowground soil carbon concentrations in mangrove swamps with high, medium, and low levels of disturbance in Cataño, Jobos Bay, and Vieques, Puerto Rico. All three sites were affected by hurricane María in 2017, one year prior to the study. As a result of being hit by the Saffir-Simpson category 4 hurricane, the low-disturbance site had almost no living mangroves left during sampling. There was no correlation between level of hydrologic alteration and carbon storage, rather different patterns emerged for each of the three sites. At the highly disturbed location, belowground carbon mass averaged 0.048 ± 0.001 g-C cm−3 which increased with increased aboveground biomass. At the moderately disturbed location, belowground carbon mass averaged 0.047 ± 0.003 g-C cm−3 and corresponded to distance from open water. At the low-disturbed location, organic carbon was consistent between all sites and inorganic carbon concentrations controlled total carbon mass which averaged 0.048 ± 0.002 g-C cm−3. These results suggest that mangroves are adaptive and resilient and have the potential to retain their carbon storage capacities despite hydrologic alterations, but mass carbon storage within mangrove forests can be spatially variable in hydrologically altered conditions. 

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3. Marine Wrack Enhances Mangrove Forest Elevation by Reducing Organic Matter Breakdown

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-026-01791-6  

   Montenegro, Kevin; Kominoski, John S; Whelan, Kevin_R T; Prats, Michelle (November 2026, Estuaries and Coasts)

   Abstract Biogenic mangrove wetlands rely on trapping and burying organic production in soil to pace sea-level rise. However, the fate and role of allochthonous marine wrack in regulating carbon processing and wetland elevation in fringe mangrove forest soils remain unclear. We quantified long-term changes in tidal hydrology and surface soil elevation (2011–2024) across two representative fringe mangrove forest sites (BISC-1, BISC-2) in Biscayne National Park (Florida, USA). To test the influence of marine wrack deposition, we measured the spatiotemporal variation of monthly wrack deposition, litter breakdown rates, soil organic carbon, and stable isotope δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N content along landward transects (2022–2024). Our results indicate that relative sea-level rise (annual rate ± SE: 8.5 ± 0.4 mm yr^− 1) was greater than annual rates of surface elevation change at either site (BISC-1 2.1 ± 2.6 mm yr^− 1; BISC-2 3.9 ± 3.2 mm yr^− 1).Rhizophora manglelitter breakdown rates (mean ± SE: BISC-1 0.011 ± 0.001kd^− 1; BISC-2 0.008 ± 0.001kd^− 1) were greater thanThalassia testudinum(BISC-1 0.009 ± 0.001kd^− 1; BISC-2 0.005 ± 0.001kd^− 1), suggesting that wrack deposition can potentially enhance elevations gains more than mangrove litter. Stable isotope content in soil, mangrove, and seagrass tissue suggested that allochthonous marine wrack contributed between 36.1% ± 0.8% and 53% ± 3.6% to the soil organic carbon content. Our findings emphasize the importance of ecological connectivity in transporting wrack as a marine subsidy that can enhance blue carbon storage and elevation increases by reducing breakdown rates and promoting peat formation in fringe mangrove forests. 

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4. Shifting Sources and Fates of Carbon With Increasing Hydrologic Presses and Pulses in Coastal Wetlands

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007903  

   Anderson, Kenneth J; Kominoski, John S; Osburn, Christopher L; Smith, Matthew A (July 2024, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences)

   Abstract Coastal ecosystems are rapidly shifting due to changes in hydrologic presses (e.g., sea‐level rise) and pulses (e.g., seasonal hydrology, disturbances, and restoration of degraded wetlands). Changing water levels and sources are master variables in coastal wetlands that can alter carbon concentrations, sources, processing, and export. Yet, how long‐term increases in water levels from marine and freshwater sources influence dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition is uncertain. We quantified how long‐term changes in water levels are affecting DOC concentration (2001–2021) and DOM composition (2011–2021) differently across the Florida Everglades. DOC concentrations decreased with high water depths in peat marshes and increased with high water levels in marl marshes and across mangroves, and these relationships were reproduced in freshwater peat marshes and shrub mangroves. In the highly productive riverine mangroves, cross‐wavelet analysis highlighted variable relationships between DOC and water level were largely modulated by hurricane disturbances. By comparing relationships between water level and DOC concentrations with carbon sources from DOM fluorescence indices, we found that changing water sources between the dry and wet season shift DOM from algal to detrital sources in freshwater marshes, from detrital marsh to detrital mangrove sources in the brackish water ecotone, and from detrital mangrove to algal marine sources in downstream mangroves. As climate change and anthropogenic drivers continue to alter water levels in coastal wetlands, integrating spatial and temporal measurements of DOC concentrations and DOM compositions is essential to better constrain the transformation and export of carbon across these coastal ecosystems. 

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5. Carbon Dynamics of a Coastal Wetland Transitioning to Mangrove Forest

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007991  

   Yannick, D; Oberbauer, S; Staudhammer, C; Cherry, J; Starr, G (April 2024, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences)

   Abstract Coastal wetlands play a vital role in the global carbon cycle and are under pressure from multiple anthropogenic influences. Altered hydrology and land use change increase susceptibility of wetlands to sea‐level rise, saltwater intrusion, tidal flood events, and storm surges. Flooding from perigean spring tides and storm surges rapidly inundates coastal wetlands with saline waters, quickly surpassing vegetation tolerances, leading to shifts in soil microbial respiration, peat collapse, and plant mortality, followed by establishment of salt‐tolerant vegetation. The Southeast Saline Everglades (SESE) is facing many of these pressures, making it a model system to examine the impacts of ecosystem state transitions and their carbon dynamics. Saltwater flooding from Hurricane Irma (2017) initiated a transitional state, where less salt‐tolerant vegetation (e.g.,Cladium jamaicense) is declining, allowing halophytic species such asRhizophora mangleto colonize, altering the ecosystem's biogeochemistry. We utilized eddy covariance techniques in the SESE to measure ecosystem fluxes of CO₂and CH₄in an area that is transitioning to an alternative state. The landward expansion of mangroves is increasing leaf area, leading to greater physiological activity and higher biomass. Our site was presented initially as a small C source (47.0 g C m⁻²) in 2020, and by 2022 was a sink (−84.24 g C m⁻²), with annual greenhouse carbon balance ranging from −0.04 to 0.18. Net radiative forcing ranged from 2.04 to 2.27 W m⁻² d⁻¹. As the mangrove landward margin expands, this may lead the area to become a greater carbon sink and a potential offset to increasing atmospheric CO₂concentrations. 

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