Environmental variables regulating organic carbon dynamics of Sundarban mangrove ecosystem, India

Abstract

Mangrove forests produce significant quantities of organic carbon in tidally inundated, anoxic soils and maintain large carbon stocks. The influence of the environmental variables on organic carbon is studied and a conceptual model of the dynamics of organic carbon is framed herein. In the mangrove system, various forms of organic carbon are present in soil and water such as soil organic carbon (SOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and particulate organic carbon (POC). Among biotic components, organic carbon present in phytoplankton (OCP), organic carbon in the zooplankton (OCZ) is important. Essential environmental variables like Litter biomass (LB), dissolved oxygen (DO), Primary productivity (PP), Atmospheric temperature (AT), Water temperature (WT) and Tidal height (TH) are considered as factors governing organic carbon dynamics. An univariate statistical correlation was employed to assess the relationships between carbon forms and physical-chemical factors. This was followed by a multivariate statistical PCA (principle component analysis). The results reflect a close inter-correlation among the studied environmental variables and organic carbon.