Given their relatively small area, mangroves and their organic sediments are of disproportionate importance to global carbon sequestration and carbon storage. Peat deposition and preservation allows some mangroves to accrete vertically and keep pace with sea-level rise by growing on their own root remains. In this study we show that mangroves in desert inlets in the coasts of the Baja California have been accumulating root peat for nearly 2,000 y and harbor a belowground carbon content of 900–34,00 Mg C/ha, with an average value of 1,130 (± 128) Mg C/ha, and a belowground carbon accumulation similar to that found under some of the tallest tropical mangroves in the Mexican Pacific coast. The depth–age curve for the mangrove sediments of Baja California indicates that sea level in the peninsula has been rising at a mean rate of 0.70 mm/y (± 0.07) during the last 17 centuries, a value similar to the rates of sea-level rise estimated for the Caribbean during a comparable period. By accreting on their own accumulated peat, these desert mangroves store large amounts of carbon in their sediments. We estimate that mangroves and halophyte scrubs in Mexico’s arid northwest, with less than 1% of the terrestrial area, store in their belowground sediments around 28% of the total belowground carbon pool of the whole region.
Carbon content in mangrove sediments in four coastal lagoons of the Mexican Pacific
This database contains the carbon contents found in sediments below mangrove forests in four coastal lagoons of the Mexican Pacific coast: (1) Bahía Magdalena, Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, (2) Balandra, Gulf of California coast of Baja California Sur, (3) Marismas Nacionales, State of Nayarit, and (4) La Encrucijada, State of Chiapas. Samples were collected by Paula Ezcurra, Exequiel Ezcurra, and Pedro P. Garcillán. Samples and data form part of Paula Ezcurra's Honors Program project at the University of California Santa Barbara. The datafile in other formats (csv, pdf) can be downloaded from the following URL: http://ezcurralab.ucr.edu/c-sequestration/mangroves.html
pacific_mangroves_dataset-carbon_content.xlsx
Radiocarbon age of peat in mangrove sediments from the Mexican Pacific
This database contains the carbon contents found in sediments below mangrove forests in four coastal lagoons of the Mexican Pacific coast: (1) Bahía Magdalena, Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, (2) Balandra, Gulf of California coast of Baja California Sur, (3) Marismas Nacionales, State of Nayarit, and (4) La Encrucijada, State of Chiapas. Samples were collected by Paula Ezcurra, Exequiel Ezcurra, and Pedro P. Garcillán. Samples and data form part of Paula Ezcurra's Honors Program project at the University of California Santa Barbara. The datafile in other formats (csv, pdf) can be downloaded from the following URL: http://ezcurralab.ucr.edu/c-sequestration/mangroves.html
pacific_mangroves_dataset-age_vs_depth.xlsx
Carbon content in mangrove sediments in five Gulf of California sites
This database contains the carbon contents found in sediments below mangrove forests in five coastal coastal sites of the Gulf of California, around the Bay of La Paz and neighboring islands. Samples were collected by Matt Costa with field assistance of Paula Ezcurra. Both samples and data form part of Matt Costa's PhD project at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego. The datafile in other formats (csv, pdf) can be downloaded from the following URL: http://ezcurralab.ucr.edu/c-sequestration/mangroves.html.
bcs_mangroves_dataset-carbon_content.xlsx
