A review of sediment carbon sampling methods in mangroves and their broader impacts on stock estimates for blue carbon ecosystems

Abstract

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrasses, are attracting interest for their potential to mitigate climate change arising from their high rates of carbon accumulation and the significant carbon stocks in their sediments. However, current sediment carbon sampling methods present a mixture of approaches adopted from paleoenvironmental methods focused on historical reconstruction of carbon accumulation, and from soil science methods developed to provide highly accurate and spatially representative carbon stock measurements. Currently, no international standard method for sediment carbon stock analysis exists. Consequently, current estimates of sediment carb..