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Co-benefits of protecting mangroves for biodiversity conservation and carbon storage

  • Md Mizanur Rahman
  • Martin Zimmer
  • Imran Ahmed
  • Daniel Donato
  • Mamoru Kanzaki
  • Ming Xu

Abstract

The conservation of ecosystems and their biodiversity has numerous co-benefits, both for local societies and for humankind worldwide. While the co-benefit of climate change mitigation through so called blue carbon storage in coastal ecosystems has raised increasing interest in mangroves, the relevance of multifaceted biodiversity as a driver of carbon storage remains unclear. Sediment salinity, taxonomic diversity, functional diversity and functional distinctiveness together explain 69%, 69%, 27% and 61% of the variation in above- and belowground plant biomass carbon, sediment organic carbon and total ecosystem carbon storage, respectively, in the Sundarbans Reserved Forest. Functional distinctiveness had the strongest explanatory power for carbon storage, indicating that blue carbon in mangroves is driven by the functional composition of diverse tree assemblages. Protecting and restoring mangrove biodiversity with site-specific dominant species and other species of contrasting functional traits would have the co-benefit of maximizing their capacity for climate change mitigation through increased carbon storage.

Cite this activity

Rahman M.M., Zimmer M., Ahmed I., Donato D., Kanzaki M. and Xu M. (2021) Co-benefits of protecting mangroves for biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. Nature Communications 12: 3875. 10.1038/s41467-021-24207-4

Details

Research topics
Date 23.06.2021
Journal Nature Communications
Volume 12
Pages 3875
Open Access Open Access (open)
Open Access Status Open Access (open)
Eprints_link https://cris.leibniz-zmt.de/id/eprint/4681
Peer-Reviewed

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