Organic Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus Accumulation Rates in the Soils of the Everglades Mangrove Ecotone

Abstract:

One of the fundamental questions with regard to coastal ecotones relates to their role in the transformation, transport and storage of biogeochemically important constituents and how that role may be altered by climate change. Coastal wetlands provide a range of valuable ecosystem services including sequestering organic carbon (OC) and nutrients in their soils at rates greater than terrestrial ecosystems on a per area basis. As such the Everglades mangrove ecotone, the largest contiguous mangrove forest in North America, is a biogeochemical “hotspot” at the interface of freshwater marsh and the Gulf of Mexico. Over the last one hundred years this region has been impacted by a reduction in freshwater flow and a sea-level rise (SLR) of 2.3 mm/yr which combined to cause a landward shift in the ecotone. This creates an ideal setting to examine climate induced alterations in the mangrove-ecotone biogeochemical cycle. The ability of the Everglades mangrove forest to keep pace with SLR depends largely on the rate of organic matter accumulation as that accumulation is a key contributor to accretion. However, the basic threat from SLR can be exacerbated in some areas by accelerating organic matter mineralization due to increasing salinity. The increase in salinity supplies sulfate which functions as a terminal electron acceptor that soil microbes can utilize to enhance mineralization in the brackish ecotone regions of coastal wetlands. To investigate these processes, we measured mangrove forest soil accretion, OC, N and P accumulation rates over the most recent 10, 50 and 100 year periods (via ²¹⁰Pb dating) from the Gulf of Mexico to the upper freshwater reaches of the mangrove forest within Everglades National Park. Lower organic carbon accumulation rates compared to the rest of the system were found in the ecotone region most susceptible to enhanced organic matter mineralization.