Mangroves are keystone ecosystems which provide numerous environmental services. Mangroves assume significance as standing stores of sequestered atmospheric carbon and are therefore, important in the light of climate change mitigation. In this study, we attempted to assess the biomass of mangroves in the Kadalundi wetland, south-west coast of India and evaluated the potential of these mangroves to sequester and store carbon. The C-stocks of above-ground and root biomass were 83.32±11.06 t C ha-1 and 34.96±4.30 t C ha-1 respectively, while the C-stock in sediment was estimated to be 63.87±8.67 t C ha-1. The estimates of mean combined C-stocks in the mangrove biomass and sediment of Kadalundi shows that this estuarine mangrove wetland stored 182.15 t C ha-1, which was equivalent to 668.48 t CO2 ha-1. The mangroves which cover an area of 13.23 ha in the Kadalundi wetland is assumed to have a potential to sequester and store a substantial quantity of 2,409.84 t C which is equivalent to 8,844.11 t CO2. The study underscores the importance of these intertidal forests for climate change mitigation and stresses the importance of protecting the mangroves which provide many other important ecosystem services that benefit communities.

The mangrove ecosystems render many goods and services ranging from coastal protection to climate regulation. These ecosystems are also reservoirs of carbon stocks, due to their ability to sequester and store carbon in their biomass and the underlying sediment, and therefore significant in view of the climate change mitigation. The present study attempted to assess the biomass and carbon stock of mangroves of Thalassery estuarine wetland of Kerala, south-west coast of India. We assessed the carbon stocks of three carbon pools viz., above-ground, below-ground (root) and sediment. A total of eight species of mangroves were recorded from the Thalassery estuarine wetland, and of these, Avicennia officinalis was the dominant species with an average tree density of 729.37 individuals ha -1 and contributed most (45.05±23.79 t ha -1 ) to the total carbon. The overall mean above-ground biomass was 189.26±97.80 t ha -1 , while the overall mean root biomass was 83.06±40.48 t ha -1 . The estimated mean above-ground carbon was 94.63±48.90 t C ha -1 , while the mean carbon stock in root and sediment were 41.53±20.24 t C ha -1 and 17.48±7.30 t C ha -1 , respectively. In the present study, the estimates of mean combined C-stocks in mangrove and sediment showed that the mangroves of Thalassery estuarine wetland stored 153.64 t C ha -1 which was equivalent to 563.86 t CO2 ha -1 . The mangroves of Thalassery wetland cover an area of approximately 5.8 ha and thus it can be assumed that this wetland has the potential to sequester and store 891.11 t C, equivalent to an estimated amount of 3270.37 t CO2. The study reinforces the importance of mangrove forests as useful carbon sinks and the need for protection of these critical habitats in the light of climate change mitigation.

The present study was envisaged to assess the biomass and carbon stocks of a natural mangrove stand of Muzhappilangad wetland of Kerala, southwest coast of India. The carbon stocks of aboveground, below-ground (root) and sediment carbon pools were assessed to arrive at the total ecosystem carbon stock. The grey mangrove Avicennia marina was the predominant species which registered an average tree density of 1,592.31 individuals ha -1 . The overall mean above-ground biomass was 260.69 ± 151.76 t ha -1 , while the overall mean root biomass was 102.84 ± 53.84 t ha -1 . The estimated mean C-stocks were 130.34 ± 75.88, 51.42 ± 26.92 and 28.68 ± 10.14 ha -1 in the above-ground, root and sediment carbon pools respectively. The carbon stock in the aboveground biomass constituted 61.94%, while the root biomass and sediment constituted 24.43% and 13.63% of C-stock respectively. The total ecosystem carbon stock of Muzhappilangad wetland was 210.44 t C ha -1 which is equivalent to 772.32 t CO 2 ha -1 . The Muzhappilangad estuarine wetland has a mangrove cover of 8.9 ha and therefore it can be presumed that this small wetland along the southwest coast of India has the potential to sequester and store 1,872.92 t C, equivalent to an estimated 6,873.61 t CO 2 .