Mangrove forests are highly productive but globally threatened coastal ecosystems, whose role in the carbon budget of the coastal zone has long been debated. Here we provide a comprehensive synthesis of the available data on carbon fluxes in mangrove ecosystems.

Original Source

Long-term monitoring of distributed, multiple plots is the key to quantify macroecological patterns and changes. Here we examine the evidence for concerted changes in the structure, dynamics and composition of old-growth Amazonian forests in the late twentieth century. In the 1980s and 1990s, mature forests gained biomass and underwent accelerated growth and dynamics, all consistent with a widespread, long-acting stimulation of growth. Because growth on average exceeded mortality, intact Amazonian forests have been a carbon sink.

The present study aims at assessing the influence of different vegetal covers, changes in landuse pattern and heterogeneity of physical fractions of the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool on soil carbon. A tropical sanctuary area with some anthropogenic activities was taken as the study area.

Boreal forests serve as important global sources or sinks of carbon (C) and wildfire is a major driver of C storage in these forests. Although fire releases CO2 to the atmosphere, it also converts plant biomass into forms of black carbon, such as charcoal, that are resistant to microbial attack and persist in the soil for thousands of years. It has frequently been suggested that, because of its resistance, black C can serve as an important long-term C sink that may help offset the release of human-induced CO2 to the atmosphere.

The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) is a native insect of the pine forests of western North America, and its populations periodically erupt into large-scale outbreaks. During outbreaks, the resulting widespread tree mortality reduces forest carbon uptake and increases future emissions from the decay of killed trees.

Global warming is one of the most devastating problems of the new millennium. The Kyoto Protocol is the first step towards an international strategy to limit greenhouse gas emissions which in turn helps to mitigate the global climate change. A decision was made in Marrakech Conference of Parties (2001), to include the afforestation and reforestation as the only eligible activities of the CDM.

Research findings are presented on the chemical environment and nutrient dynamics in Hokersar wetland ecosystem of Kashmir Himalayas (J&K). The water body is characterised by calcium-rich water and dominance of bicarbonate anion. The estimation of nutrient pools in principal components (water, sediments and macrophytes) indicates sediments as long-term major sink (>99%); the sequence being sediment>water>macrophytes.