The Carbon Holdings of Northern Ecuador's Mangrove Forests
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5114596 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stuart E Hamilton (Salisbury University, corresponding author), John P Lovette (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Mercy Borbor-Cordova (0000-0002-7418-141X, Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral), Mercy J Borbor-Cordova, Marco Millones (0009-0003-8572-0313, University of Mary Washington) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 107 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 54-71 |
| Publication date | 2017-01-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annals of the American Association of Geographers (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2469-4452 • E-ISSN: 2469-4460 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/24694452.2016.1226160 |
| OpenAlex | W2466500227 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 33 |
Within a GIS environment, we combine field measures of mangrove diameter,\nmangrove species distribution, and mangrove density with remotely sensed\nmeasures of mangrove location and mangrove canopy cover to estimate the\nmangrove carbon holdings of northern Ecuador. We find that the four northern\nestuaries of Ecuador contain approximately 7,742,999 t (plus or minus 15.47\npercent) of standing carbon. Of particular high carbon holdings are the\nRhizophora mangle dominated mangrove stands found in-and-around the\nCayapas-Mataje Ecological Reserve in northern Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador and\ncertain stands of Rhizophora mangle in-and-around the Isla Corazon y Fragata\nWildlife Refuge in central Manabi Province, Ecuador. Our field driven mangrove\ncarbon estimate is higher than all but one of the comparison models evaluated.\nWe find that basic latitudinal mangrove carbon models performed at least as\nwell, if not better, than the more complex species based allometric models in\npredicting standing carbon levels. In addition, we find that improved results\noccur when multiple models are combined as opposed to relying any one single\nmodel for mangrove carbon estimates. The high level of carbon contained in\nthese mangrove forests, combined with the future atmospheric carbon\nsequestration potential they offer, makes it a necessity that they are included\nin any future payment for ecosystem services strategy aimed at utilizing forest\nsystems to reduce CO2 emissions and mitigate predicted CO2 driven temperature\nincreases.\n
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| Highly cited | No |
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