Catherine E. Lovelock
Luzhen Chen
Uta Berger
Marilyn C. Ball
Ruth Reef
Ronny Peters
Hannah Bowen
Alejandra G. Vovides
Eric Ward
Marie-Christin Wimmler
Joel A. Carr
Pete Bunting
Jamie A. Duberstein
Ken Krauss
2022
<p><span>“Blue carbon” wetland vegetation has a limited freshwater requirement. One type, mangroves, utilizes less freshwater during transpiration than adjacent terrestrial ecoregions, equating to only 43% (average) to 57% (potential) of evapotranspiration (</span><i><strong><span class="mathjax-tex"><span id="MathJax-Element-1-Frame" class="MathJax" data-mathml="<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mi>E</mi><mi>T</mi></math>"><span id="MathJax-Span-1" class="math"><span id="MathJax-Span-2" class="mrow"><span id="MathJax-Span-3" class="mi">E</span><span id="MathJax-Span-4" class="mi">T</span></span></span></span></span></strong></i><span>). Here, we demonstrate that comparative consumptive water use by mangrove vegetation is as much as 2905 kL H</span><sub>2</sub><span>O ha</span><sup>−1</sup><span> year</span><sup>−1</sup><span> less than adjacent ecoregions with </span><strong><i><span class="mathjax-tex"><span id="MathJax-Element-2-Frame" class="MathJax" data-mathml="<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><msub><mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"><mi>E</mi></mrow><mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"><mi>c</mi></mrow></msub></math>"><span id="MathJax-Span-5" class="math"><span id="MathJax-Span-6" class="mrow"><span id="MathJax-Span-7" class="msubsup"><span id="MathJax-Span-8" class="texatom"><span id="MathJax-Span-9" class="mrow"><span id="MathJax-Span-10" class="mi">E</span></span></span><sub><span id="MathJax-Span-11" class="texatom"><span id="MathJax-Span-12" class="mrow"><span id="MathJax-Span-13" class="mi">c</span></span></span></sub></span></span></span></span></span></i></strong><span>-to-</span><strong><i><span class="mathjax-tex"><span id="MathJax-Element-3-Frame" class="MathJax" data-mathml="<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mi>E</mi><mi>T</mi></math>"><span id="MathJax-Span-14" class="math"><span id="MathJax-Span-15" class="mrow"><span id="MathJax-Span-16" class="mi">E</span><span id="MathJax-Span-17" class="mi">T</span></span></span></span></span></i></strong><span> ratios of 47–70%. Lower porewater salinity would, however, increase mangrove </span><strong><i><span class="mathjax-tex"><span id="MathJax-Element-4-Frame" class="MathJax" data-mathml="<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><msub><mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"><mi>E</mi></mrow><mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"><mi>c</mi></mrow></msub></math>"><span id="MathJax-Span-18" class="math"><span id="MathJax-Span-19" class="mrow"><span id="MathJax-Span-20" class="msubsup"><span id="MathJax-Span-21" class="texatom"><span id="MathJax-Span-22" class="mrow"><span id="MathJax-Span-23" class="mi">E</span></span></span><sub><span id="MathJax-Span-24" class="texatom"><span id="MathJax-Span-25" class="mrow"><span id="MathJax-Span-26" class="mi">c</span></span></span></sub></span></span></span></span></span></i></strong><span>-to-</span><strong><i><span class="mathjax-tex"><span id="MathJax-Element-5-Frame" class="MathJax" data-mathml="<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mi>E</mi><mi>T</mi></math>"><span id="MathJax-Span-27" class="math"><span id="MathJax-Span-28" class="mrow"><span id="MathJax-Span-29" class="mi">E</span><span id="MathJax-Span-30" class="mi">T</span></span></span></span></span></i></strong><span> ratios by affecting leaf-, tree-, and stand-level eco-physiological controls on transpiration. Restricted water use is also additive to other ecosystem services provided by mangroves, such as high carbon sequestration, coastal protection and support of biodiversity within estuarine and marine environments. Low freshwater demand enables mangroves to sustain ecological values of connected estuarine ecosystems with future reductions in freshwater while not competing with the freshwater needs of humans. Conservative water use may also be a characteristic of other emergent blue carbon wetlands.</span></p>
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10.1038/s41598-022-21514-8
en
Springer Nature
Mangroves provide blue carbon ecological value at a low freshwater cost
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