Paper Title
Partitioning of System Total Carbon Pool of Kala Oya Mangrove Ecosystem in Sri Lanka
Abstract
Mangrove communities are normally characterized efficient in carbon sink compared to other terrestrial plant
communities. Due to the surprisingly lacking of data on total carbon storage in whole mangrove ecosystems, study was
objected to account the total organic carbon (TOC) content in a largest mangrove ecosystem, Kala Oya in Sri Lanka. Above
and below ground mangrove biomass was determined with allometric method and converted to TOC. TOC in soils were
determined with standard chemical procedures. TOC in plant to be 204.74 t ha -1 , comprised 171.73 t ha -1 from above ground
and 33.01 t ha -1 form below ground components. TOC in soil was recorded to be 376.26 t ha -1. Total calculated TOC in
whole ecosystem to be 581.00 t ha -1 and the total estimated amount of TOC in Kala Oya mangrove (1200 ha) ecosystem to
be 697.2x10 3 t.
Key words- Mangrove, total organic carbon, vegetation structure, soil,