Mangroves need to be protected, they help us with the climate crisis

We know how the exaggerated increase incarbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes the phenomenon known as global warming. To help us thereand mangroves, biome consisting of a predominantly woody vegetable part, which develops on the low coasts of usually tropical coasts. They have morphological idiosyncrasies that make them extremely fascinating: they are equipped with accessory roots very sturdy so that the trunk is lifted and brought to the surface of the water.

Thanks to these roots, mangroves get the appellation of “sponges”. They mainly absorb large amounts of carbon: that is, they suck carbon dioxide from the air in order to store it roots and in branches. They are so efficient that, according to a study by the University of California, Riverside and the University of California at San Diego, they have been storing carbon for more than 5,000 years.

One of the study’s co-authors, Emma Aronson, argues that the peculiarity is not just due to the rate or amount of carbon that mangroves can absorb, how much more to the extraordinary ability of storage in the time.

Peat as a key to understanding

Among the elements of interest of the study, the peat: deposit consisting of plant remains sunk in the underlying water. The peat under the mangroves is a combination of submerged sediment and decomposed organic matter. In some areas sampled for the study, the layer of this type of organic material stretched approximately 10 feet below the waterline.

During the sampling, carried out at the site off the coast of La Paz (Mexico), the researchers examined how the carbon and nitrogen density and the composition of the microbial community, vary with theage peat. The researchers expected to find carbon in the peat layer beneath the forest, but not that the carbon was more than 5,000 years old.

At the moment it is clear that preserving these perfect “vacuum machines” as best as possible is a good strategy to threatening caused by global warming, said Matthew Costa, the first author of the work, which finds one way to prevent the climate crisis from worsening, theax undisturbed mangroves. “If we keep these forests functioning, they can retain the carbon they’ve captured from the atmosphere. They play a key role in mitigating climate changeCosta repeats.

The study was published in the Marine Ecology Progress Series.

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