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Status of mangrove ecosystem conservation in Mozambique: contribution to minimising the effects of climate change

Publication . Cuamba, Ezídio da Lúcia; Madeira, Manuel Armando Valeriano; Carvalho, Ana Paula Soares Marques de; Bandeira, Salomão Olinda

Mangrove forests provide diversified ecosystem services, supporting plants, animals, microorganisms and community livelihood for subsistence. Mangroves and other blue carbon ecosystems sequester great quantities of carbon, becoming of relevant value to climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. This study describes the mangrove forest structure, trees biomass pools and carbon stocks in different soil depth of Pemba Bay, in Northern Mozambique. We used a stratified random design, where the inventory considered three different mangrove strata: overstory, understory and dead trees, including soils, in five nested sub-plots in a 0,74 ha square plot. Biomass was calculated using allometric equations and carbon stock as a sum of the carbon per unit area of considered layers. All of the mangrove species reported to occur in Mozambique were found and measured in Pemba Bay. Understory, overstory, and dead standing trees, respectively dominated the stocking densities of mangrove forest. For the understory, the stocking densities were variable among the plots, averaging 6741 trees ha-1, and ranging from 477 to 24192 trees ha-1. The overstory stocking densities average was 695 trees ha-1, and ranging from 299 to 1156 trees ha-1, whereas, the dead standing trees averaged 126 trees ha-1, and ranging from 13 to 325 trees ha-1. The average soil carbon content (depth 0-150 cm) was estimated as 224.3 Mg ha-1. The total carbon accumulated in mangrove system was of 309.11 Mg ha-1, very high in the soil (71.4%); aboveground biomass contributes with 28.6% (overstory, understory and dead trees pools).

2024-07-24Doctoral thesis

Open access