Dissolved carbon biogeochemistry and export in mangrove-dominated rivers of the Florida Everglades

Authors

David T. Ho, University of Hawaii
Sara Ferrón, University of Hawaii
Victor C. Engel, Everglades National Park
William T. Anderson, Southeast Environmental Research Center and Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International UniversityFollow
Peter K. Swart, University of Miami
René M. Price, Southeast Environmental Research Center and Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International UniversityFollow
Letcia Barbero, NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

Abstract

The Shark and Harney rivers, located on the southwest coast of Florida, USA, originate in the freshwater, karstic marshes of the Everglades and flow through the largest contiguous mangrove forest in North America. In November 2010 and 2011, dissolved carbon source–sink dynamics was examined in these rivers during SF₆ tracer release experiments. Approximately 80 % of the total dissolved carbon flux out of the Shark and Harney rivers during these experiments was in the form of inorganic carbon, either via air–water CO₂ exchange or longitudinal flux of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) to the coastal ocean. Between 42 and 48 % of the total mangrove-derived DIC flux into the rivers was emitted to the atmosphere, with the remaining being discharged to the coastal ocean. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) represented ca. 10 % of the total mangrove-derived dissolved carbon flux from the forests to the rivers. The sum of mangrove-derived DIC and DOC export from the forest to these rivers was estimated to be at least 18.9 to 24.5 mmol m⁻² d⁻¹, a rate lower than other independent estimates from Shark River and from other mangrove forests. Results from these experiments also suggest that in Shark and Harney rivers, mangrove contribution to the estuarine flux of dissolved carbon to the ocean is less than 10 %.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Comments

Originally published in Biogeosciences.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DEB-1237517, #DBI-0620409, and #DEB-9910514. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation

Recommended Citation

Ho, David T.; Ferrón, Sara; Engel, Victor C.; Anderson, William T.; Swart, Peter K.; Price, René M.; and Barbero, Letcia, "Dissolved carbon biogeochemistry and export in mangrove-dominated rivers of the Florida Everglades" (2017). FCE LTER Journal Articles. 457.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/fce_lter_journal_articles/457