Carbon burial and storage in tropical salt marshes under the influence of sea level rise A.C. Ruiz-Fernández a, ⁎, V. Carnero-Bravo b , J.A. Sanchez-Cabeza c , L.H. Pérez-Bernal a , O.A. Amaya-Monterrosa d , S. Bojórquez-Sánchez e , P.G. López-Mendoza b , J.G. Cardoso-Mohedano f , R.B. Dunbar g , D.A. Mucciarone g , A.J. Marmolejo-Rodríguez h a Unidad Académica Mazatlán, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Calz. J. Montes Camarena s/n, Playa Sur, 82040 Mazatlán, Mexico b Posgrado en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 Ciudad de México, Mexico c Unidad Académica Procesos Oceánicos y Costeros, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 Ciudad de México, Mexico d Laboratorio de Toxinas Marinas LABTOX-UES, Universidad de El Salvador, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Final de Av. Mártires y Héroes del 30 julio, San Salvador, El Salvador e Universidad Politécnica de Sinaloa (UPSIN), Carretera municipal libre Mazatlán-Higueras Km 3, Col. Genaro Estrada, CP 82199 Mazatlán, Mexico f CONACYT – Estación el Carmen, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Carr. Carmen-Puerto Real km. 9.5, 24157 Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico g Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA h Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Av. Instituto Politécnico Nacional s/n, Playa Palo de Sta. Rita, 23096 La Paz, Mexico HIGHLIGHTS • 210 Pb-dated sediment cores from tropi- cal saltmarshes showed marine trans- gression. • C org concentration, stock and burial var- ied widely within and among study sites. • C org stocks in tropical saltmarshes are as high as in other blue carbon ecosystems. • Marine transgression caused lower C org sediment concentrations and stocks. • Sea level rise effects on C org burial rates are masked by other global change impacts. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 22 October 2017 Received in revised form 19 February 2018 Accepted 19 February 2018 Available online xxxx Editor: D. Barcelo Coastal vegetated habitats can be important sinks of organic carbon (C org ) and mitigate global warming by sequestering significant quantities of atmospheric CO 2 and storing sedimentary C org for long periods, although their C org burial and storage capacity may be affected by on-going sea level rise and human intervention. Geochemical data from published 210 Pb-dated sediment cores, collected from low-energy microtidal coastal wetlands in El Salvador (Jiquilisco Bay) and in Mexico (Salada Lagoon; Estero de Urias Lagoon; Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve) were revisited to assess temporal changes (within the last 100 years) of C org concentrations, storage and burial rates in tropical salt marshes under the influence of sea level rise and contrasting anthropization degree. Grain size distribution was used to identify hydrodynamic changes, and δ 13 C to distin- guish terrigenous sediments from those accumulated under the influence of marine transgression. Although the accretion rate ranges in all sediment records were comparable, C org concentrations (0.2–30%), stocks (30– 465 Mg ha -1 , by extrapolation to 1 m depth), and burial rates (3–378 g m -2 year -1 ) varied widely within and Keywords: C org burial rate C org stock Tropical salt marsh Science of the Total Environment 630 (2018) 1628–1640 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: caro@ola.icmyl.unam.mx (A.C. Ruiz-Fernández), vladislavc@gmail.com (V. Carnero-Bravo), jasanchez@cmarl.unam.mx (J.A. Sanchez-Cabeza), lbernal@ola.icmyl.unam.mx (L.H. Pérez-Bernal), oscar.amaya@ues.edu.sv (O.A. Amaya-Monterrosa), sara_bojorquez29@hotmail.com (S. Bojórquez-Sánchez), pergualome@gmail.com (P.G. López-Mendoza), jgcardosomo@conacyt.mx (J.G. Cardoso-Mohedano), dunbar@stanford.edu (R.B. Dunbar), dam1@stanford.edu (D.A. Mucciarone). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.246 0048-9697/© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv