Led by BIOSFERA Industrial PhD Candidate Enric Gomis and Scientific Advisor Oscar Serrano, our team has published the first comprehensive assessment of soil carbon stocks and accumulation rates across Western Australia’s mangroves in Geoderma. The study brings together 142 sediment cores collected across 25 locations, combining geochemical analyses and radiometric dating to reveal how bioregions, coastal geomorphology, and tidal range influence the carbon storage capacity of mangrove ecosystems.

Why does it matter?

Mangroves are among the most efficient carbon-storing ecosystems on Earth. Yet they continue to be lost globally, releasing the carbon stored in their soils back into the atmosphere. Our findings show that Western Australia’s mangroves store substantial amounts of carbon:

• 236 Mg of carbon per hectare in the top 1 m of soil
• 71–86 million tonnes of carbon stored across the region
• Up to 232,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year could be released through mangrove loss

Understanding where and how carbon is stored is essential for protecting these ecosystems and accurately accounting for their role in climate mitigation.

Open access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.118027