Abstract:
Mangrove communities are normally characterized as efficient in carbon sink compared to other terrestrial plant communities. Due to the surprisingly lacking of data on total carbon storage in whole mangrove ecosystems, the study was objected to account the total organic carbon (TOC) content and its partitioning of a relatively large mangrove ecosystem, Kala Oya in Sri Lanka. Above and below ground mangrove biomass was determined with allometric method and converted to TOC. TOC in soils were determined with standard chemical procedures. TOC in plant to be 204.74 t ha-1, comprised 171.73 t ha-1 from above ground and 33.01 t ha-1 form below ground components. TOC in soil was recorded to be 376.26 t ha-1. Total calculated TOC in whole ecosystem to be 581.00 t ha-1 and the total estimated amount of TOC in Kala Oya mangrove (1200 ha) ecosystem to be 697.2x103 t.
