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Carbon and Nitrogen Sequestration of Melaleuca Floodplain Wetlands in Tropical Australia

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Abstract

Wetlands of Melaleuca spp. in Australia form large forests that are highly threatened by deforestation and degradation. In America, Melaleuca has invaded large areas of native wetlands causing extensive damage. Despite their status as an endangered native ecosystem and as a highly invasive one, little is known about their C and N dynamics. In this study, we sampled five Melaleuca wetlands and measured their C and N ecosystem stocks (aboveground biomass and soil), tree accumulation rates, sedimentation rates, and soil stability. Melaleuca wetlands were highly heterogeneous, but most have large ecosystem C [mean ± SE (range); 360 ± 100 (80–670) Mg C ha−1] and N [8100 ± 1900 (1600–13,000) kg N ha−1] stocks. Tree accumulation rates were 5.0 ± 2.1 Mg C y−1 and 26 ± 14 kg N y−1, and surface soil accumulation rates were 0.6 ± 0.2 Mg C ha−1 y−1 and 39 ± 1 kg N y−1. We found evidence of long-term C and N accumulation in the soil, but also of some level of organic decomposition. Overall, we found that Melaleuca wetlands store and accumulate large amounts of C, especially in their trees, and large amounts of N in their soils, suggesting an important role in coastal biogeochemical cycles.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land in which the field study was conducted, especially the Nywaigi, Djiru, Girramay, and Gulnay people. We thank the Queensland Government through the Advance Queensland Fellowship granted to MFA, the Great Barrier Reef Water Quality Program for their financial support, and the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program, Tropical Water Quality Hub (Project 3.3.2). Funding was provided to PM by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Grant 2017 SGR-1588) and through an Australian Research Council LIEF Project (LE170100219). This work is contributing to the ICTA “Unit of Excellence” (MinECo, MDM2015-0552).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Rivers Institute, Grifith University, Nathan, Queensland, 4111, Australia

    M. F. Adame, S. R. Balcombe, M. P. Turschwell & E. Kavehei

  2. School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victory, 3800, Australia

    R. Reef, V. N. L. Wong & D. C. Rodríguez

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South Wales, 2109, Australia

    J. J. Kelleway

  4. School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, 2522, Australia

    J. J. Kelleway

  5. School of Science, Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia, 6027, Australia

    P. Masque

  6. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Departament de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    P. Masque

  7. Oceans Institute, School of Physics, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009, Australia

    P. Masque

  8. Wetlands Team, Environment Policy and Planning, Department of Environment and Science, Queensland Government, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia

    M. Ronan

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  1. M. F. Adame
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  2. R. Reef
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  9. P. Masque
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Correspondence to M. F. Adame.

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Authors’ contributions

MFA and MR designed the study; MFA, RR, VNLW, SRB, MT, EK, and SR conducted field work; VNLW, EK, SR, DCR, and PM conducted laboratory work, MFA, RR, VNLW, MT, JJ, and PM analysed the data; MFA, RR, SRB, JJK, PM, and MR wrote the manuscript.

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Adame, M.F., Reef, R., Wong, V.N.L. et al. Carbon and Nitrogen Sequestration of Melaleuca Floodplain Wetlands in Tropical Australia. Ecosystems 23, 454–466 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00414-5

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