ESTIMASI PENYIMPANAN KARBON PADA SUBSTRAT LUMPUR MANGROVE DI KAWASAN REHABILITASI SUAKA MARGASATWA KARANGGADING LANGKAT TIMUR LAUT III KABUPATEN LANGKAT SUMATERA UTARA

Increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is one of the factors which causes global climate change. Carbon dioxide restraining may be done through various forest vegetations, such as mangrove forest is one of the ways for decreasing carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in atmosphere. It made mangrove forest ecosystem play important role in mitigation of climate change because it is able to reduce CO2 through carbon sequestration mechanism, which absorb carbon from atmosphere and store it in compartments such as tree stand, debris, and soil organic matter. Carbon content in mangrove substrate is soil organic carbon that results from mangrove debris decay decomposed by bacteria and fungi and followed by mineralization process occurring anaerobe that precipitate below mangrove stand. The purpose of this research was to identify mangrove density, mangrove mud substrate thickness and estimation of carbon storage in mangrove mud substrate at rehabilitation area of Karanggading Langkat Timur Laut III reserve. The research was conducted in three sites of the rehabilitation area based on mangrove planting year. Year of mangrove planting 2003 sites in Paluh Cina Mati, year of mangrove planting 2005 sites in Paluh Ga ntang and year of mangrove planting 2006 sites in Sungai Malimbidai. Based on the results, average mangrove density in 2003, 2005 and 2006 planting years was 7080, 7040 and 7896 individuals/hectare, respectively. Moreover, average mangrove mud thickness in 2003, 2005 and 2006 planting year were119.76 cm, 99.68 cm and 96.5 cm, respectively. Meanwhile carbon content in mangrove mud substrate in 2003, 2005 and 2006 planting year were 24,038ton C or 480.76 ton C/ha, 14,018tonC or 280.36 ton C/ha and 25,113 ton C or 251.13 ton C/ha, respectively