Sources of Particulate Organic Matter across Mangrove Forests and Adjacent Ecosystems in Different Geomorphic Settings

Mangrove forests are among the world’s most productive ecosystems and provide essential ecosystem services such as global climate regulation through the sequestration of carbon. A detailed understanding of the influence of drivers of ecosystem connectivity (in terms of exchange of suspended particulate organic matter), such as geomorphic setting and carbon stocks, among coastal ecosystems is important for being able to depict carbon dynamics. Here, we compared carbon stocks, CO2 fluxes at the sediment-air interface, concentrations of dissolved organic carbon and suspended particulate organic carbon across a mangrove-seagrass-tidal flat seascape. Using stable isotope signatures of carbon and nitrogen in combination with MixSIAR models, we evaluated the contribution of organic matter from different sources among the different seascape components. Generally, carbon concentration was higher as dissolved organic carbon than as suspended particulate matter. Geomorphic settings of the different locations reflected the contributions to particulate organic matter of the primary producers. For example, the biggest contributors in the riverine location were mangrove trees and terrestrial plants, while in fringing locations oceanic and macroalgal sources dominated. Anthropogenic induced changes at the coastal level (i.e. reduction of mangrove forests area) may affect carbon accumulation dynamics in adjacent coastal ecosystems