Exploring the ecological and social value of mangroves within the Amazon

Summary: Coastal mangrove forests are critical life-supporting systems to coastal populations. Brazil is home to the second-largest extension of mangrove forests in the world, and Amazon mangroves have a carbon density of over 3 times the upland Amazon rainforests. Therefore, their value to society in the largest continuous mangrove belt of the world on the coastal Amazon is of critical importance. Mangroves grow under a natural range of sedimentary input and geomorphological differences, so Amazon mangroves may be subject to a global endmember of exposure to the extremely high drainage through the Amazon river mouth. We expect that Amazon mangroves may then have a strong ecological and paleoenvironmental link to processes that occur upstream, and work as sinks of carbon, sediments, and even pollutants. Here we propose to explore for the first time the ecological and social value of Amazon mangroves to coastal communities, and to understand the ecological links between mangroves and the Amazon river basin over current and past (last 100 years) temporal scales. To achieve these goals, we will use a range of ecological and geochemical markers to study mangrove soils along spatial gradients of proximity to the river mouth. We will also explore the social value of Amazon mangroves, including the provision of market and non-market good and services. This proposal will explore new ecological links between coastal and river-forest ecosystems on the largest freshwater basin on the planet.

Starting date: 2021-11-01
Deadline (months): 24

Participants:

Role	Name
Coordinator *	Angelo Fraga Bernardino