Soil Organic Carbon Storage Changes in Coastal Wetlands of the Liaohe Delta, China, Based on Landscape Patterns

Growing wetland loss along a coastal area in China was examined through shoreline recession and land use changes. Carbon storage or sequestration in coastal wetland soils was based on vertical marsh accretion and aerial change data. Marshes sequester significant amounts of carbon through vertical accretion; however, large amounts of carbon previously sequestered in the soil profile are lost through rapid land use changes and shoreline recessions. The Liaohe Delta (LHD) was divided into nine landscape types based on Landsat TM digital images from 1991 to 2011. The distributed areas and transfer matrices of each landscape type were calculated. Combined with the organic carbon content and bulk density of 202 soil surface samples from field investigations in 2012, the soil organic carbon pools and stocks were estimated. Results showed that the soil organic carbon pools varied from 0.58 to 9.75 kg m−2, and organic carbon storage in the upper 20 cm of soil was 1935.92 × 104 and 1863.87 × 104 t in 1991 and 2011, respectively. We attributed these large losses of carbon to rapid land use changes. The construction of levees along the shoreline has triggered large instantaneous losses of previously sequestered carbon through the destruction of 278.06 km2 of tidal flats. Our results reveal that the LHD wetlands might not serve as a desired sink of carbon if maladministration practices are applied. These results can provide scientific guidance for decision makers in determining an effective way to maintain the soil carbon pool in the wetlands of the LHD.