Name: Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Gomes
Type: PhD thesis
Publication date: 28/03/2022
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Angelo Fraga Bernardino | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Angelo Fraga Bernardino | Advisor * |
| Gabriel Nuto Nóbrega | External Examiner * |
| Hermano Melo Queiroz | External Alternate * |
| Jean-Christophe Joyeux | Internal Alternate * |
| Roberto Lima Barcellos | External Examiner * |
| Sergio Antonio Netto | External Examiner * |
| Tiago Osório Ferreira | External Examiner * |
Summary: Human activity directly influences global climate through the increasing
greenhouse gas emission (GHG) such as carbon dioxide and methane from deforestation
and the use of fossil fuels. As a result, a myriad of taxa and human well-being will be
severely impacted by the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events
(e.g. extreme storms and droughts). In this sense, the conservation and recovery of
mangrove ecosystems emerge as a nature solution to mitigate this impact. During the
development of my thesis, I used multiple lines of evidence to understand the impacts of
cumulative extreme climate events on the mangrove ecosystem, their services, and
associated benthic biodiversity. This thesis was developed in Piraquê Açú-Mirim estuary
(Espírito Santo) a relatively well-preserved estuary that has been influenced by extreme-
climate events over the past years. About 30% of the Piraquê Açú-Mirim mangrove
forests were impacted by intense cumulative extreme climatic events (hailstorms with
extreme winds during the worst documented drought in the region), thus, this region
works as an experimental model to properly understand how the increase of frequency
and intensity of extreme climatic events will affect the mangrove ecosystem as a whole.
The chapters of this thesis progressively present invaluable results related to the
understanding of extreme climate impacts over mangrove ecosystems, finally emerging
a new potential ecosystem service to be considered within the carbon market; which will
be inspiring the application of nature-based solutions along mangrove ecosystems. The
first chapters emphasize how extreme climatic events impact the transport of carbon from
mangrove litterfall to nearby ecosystems. The second chapter highlights the huge loss of
carbon stock from mangrove soils, reinforcing the potential increase of greenhouse gas
emissions due to ecosystem losses. The third chapter evidence the mangrove dieback
impacts over benthic assemblages and how these changes will modify greenhouses gas
emissions. The fourth chapter evidence how anthropogenic land use and cover change
will affect carbon burial rates within mangrove soils. Furthermore, highlights the lack of
data from climate-impacted mangrove ecosystems. At the end of this chapter, I discuss
the huge potential that Brazilian mangroves have to bury carbon, while providing suitable
information for the carbon market to develop new methodologies to incorporate
mangroves soils OC burial as a carbon service; which can be applied as a model to
countries with coastal carbon-rich ecosystems.
Key words: Climate change, Mangrove, Nature-based solutions, Estuarine macrofauna,
Carbon stock
