Coasts 'better at storing carbon'.COASTAL habitats such as salt marshes and mangroves are able to bury many times more carbon in the soil than tropical forests, researchers claimed today. A study by a Conservation International scientist revealed that plants in salt marshes, along with mangrove mangrove, large tropical evergreen tree, genus Rhizophora, that grows on muddy tidal flats and along protected ocean shorelines. Mangroves are most abundant in tropical Asia, Africa, and the islands of the SW Pacific. trees and seagrasses, are "extremely efficient" at locking carbon into the sediment sediment, mineral or organic particles that are deposited by the action of wind, water, or glacial ice. These sediments can eventually form sedimentary rocks (see rock). beneath them, where it can remain for centuries. The study shows the importance of preserving habitats ranging from the salt marshes of Britain's coasts to Australia, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. The research suggests that areas of coastal habitats can store some 50 times as much carbon in their sediment as the same area of tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests generally found near the equator. They are common in Asia, Africa, South America, Central America, and on many of the Pacific Islands. can lock up in the soil. |
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