Carbon Cycle Case Study - Mangroves

Question 1

What are mangroves?

Answer 1

Small tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water

Question 2

Why are mangroves important?

Answer 2

• They sequester (capture/remove) 1.5 metric tonnes of carbon per hectare per year
• If just 2% of the worlds mangroves are lost, the carbon released will be 50 times the natural sequestration rate
• they prevent coastal erosion
• they trap nutrient rich sediment
• provide protection against extreme weather and tsunamis
• provide fish nurseries - 520million people rely on fisheries

Question 3

Why are mangroves under threat?

Answer 3

• Being cleared for tourism, aquaculture and shrimp farms
• Shrimp farms are artificial ponds, and hundreds of acres are being cleared to create them - biggest threat to mangroves
• Climate change poses a threat to mangroves = according to IPCC forecasts are predicted to decline in area and structural complexity

Question 4

What are the synoptic links to coasts?

Answer 4

• Loss of mangroves is accelerating due to coastalisation (increased movement of people who move to live on the coast)
• A root cause of the massive fatalities during the 2001 Indian Ocean tsunami were the loss of mangroves along the pacific coast
• Mangroves were cleared to create tourism resorts/beaches, which increased the environmental vulnerability of coastal settlements which put tourists in direct risk from tsunamis

Question 5

Where do mangroves occur?

Answer 5

Worldwide in the tropics and subtropics, mainly between latitudes 25 degrees north and south