[Carbon storage and carbon sink of mangrove wetland: research progress]

Abstract

Mangrove forest is a special wetland forest growing in the inter-tidal zone of tropical and subtropical regions, playing important roles in windbreak, promoting silt sedimentation, resisting extreme events such as cyclones and tsunamis, and protecting coastline, etc. The total area of global mangrove forests is about 152000 km2, only accounting for 0. 4% of all forest area. There are about 230 km2 mangrove forests in China. The mangrove forests in the tropics have an average carbon storage as high as 1023 Mg hm-2, and the global mangrove forests can sequestrate about 0. 18-0. 228 Pg C a-1. In addition to plant species composition, a variety of factors such as air temperature, seawater temperature and salinity, soil physical and chemical properties, atmospheric CO2 concentration, and human activities have significant effects on the carbon storage and sink ability of mangrove forests. Many approaches based onfield measurements, including allometric equations, remote sensing, and model simulation, are applied to quantify the carbon storage and sink ability of mangrove forest wetland. To study the carbon storage and sink ability of mangrove wetland can promote the further understanding of the carbon cycle of mangrove wetland and related controlling mechanisms, being of significance for the protection and rational utilization of mangrove wetland.