Ecosystem of the Mangroves in Quaintana Roo, Mexico

Session: Poster session

Kaleena Jones, School of Freshwater Science / Alverno College, [email protected]
Richard MacKenzie, US Forest Service Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, [email protected]
Leah Holloway, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences, [email protected]
Haley Lucas, School of Freshwater Science, [email protected]
Leah Stromberg, UWM-freshwater science/ Alverno College, [email protected]
Christopher Suchocki, University of Wisconsin, [email protected]
Ruth Fenelon, University of Milwaukee Wisconsin , [email protected]

Abstract

Mangrove forest offers essential ecosystem services and is considered among the most carbon (C) rich biomes. Mangrove forest often sequester substantial quantities of C and are of interest in climate change mitigation strategies. The high C storage is due to the significant amount of organic C that is stored in the soils of the mangroves. Mangrove forests of the Yucatàn Peninsula, primarily, the Quintana Roo (Q. Roo) state of Mexico are supported by three abiotic environments, freshwater, brackish, and marine. The mangrove ecosystem in Q. Roo is unique to many other mangrove ecosystems. There exists a natural salinity gradient that these mangrove forests grow along; this includes freshwater dwarf mangroves that are found nowhere else in the world. Freshwater dwarf mangroves have a higher primary rate than other mangrove forests. The mangrove forest in Q. Roo is also trapping large amounts of inorganic C (CaCO3) that has precipitated out of the water column. We conducted soil, leaf, root, and DBH inventory from three mangrove species, Rhizophora mangle, Laguncularia racemosa, and Avicennia germinans. The objective of our research is to see how C stocks change across the salinity gradient and are these mangroves important for trapping and retaining inorganic C.

1. Keyword
carbon

2. Keyword
tropical regions

4. Additional Keyword
Mangroves

5. Additional Keyword
Salinity gradient