Multi-scale mapping of Australia’s terrestrial and blue carbon stocks and their continental and bioregional drivers

Lewis Walden; Oscar Serrano; Mingxi Zhang; Zefang Shen; James Z Sippo; Lauren T Bennett; Damien T Maher; Catherine E Lovelock; Peter I Macreadie; Connor Gorham; Anna Lafratta; Paul S Lavery; Luke Mosley; Gloria M. S Reithmaier; Jeffrey J Kelleway; Sabine Dittmann; Fernanda Adame; Carlos M Duarte; John Barry Gallagher; Pawel Waryszak; Paul Carnell; Sabine Kasel; Nina Hinko-Najera; Rakib Hassan; Madeline Goddard; Alice R Jones; Raphael A Viscarra Rossel

doi:10.1038/s43247-023-00838-x

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Multi-scale mapping of Australia’s terrestrial and blue carbon stocks and their continental and bioregional drivers

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Multi-scale mapping of Australia’s terrestrial and blue carbon stocks and their continental and bioregional drivers

Lewis Walden, Oscar Serrano, Mingxi Zhang, Zefang Shen, James Z Sippo, Lauren T Bennett, Damien T Maher, Catherine E Lovelock, Peter I Macreadie, Connor Gorham, …

Communications earth & environment, Vol.4, 189

01/06/2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00838-x

Appears in Recent Faculty of Science and Engineering Publications

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Abstract

Macroecology

Ecosystem ecology

The soil in terrestrial and coastal blue carbon ecosystems is an important carbon sink. National carbon inventories require accurate assessments of soil carbon in these ecosystems to aid conservation, preservation, and nature-based climate change mitigation strategies. Here we harmonise measurements from Australia’s terrestrial and blue carbon ecosystems and apply multi-scale machine learning to derive spatially explicit estimates of soil carbon stocks and the environmental drivers of variation. We find that climate and vegetation are the primary drivers of variation at the continental scale, while ecosystem type, terrain, clay content, mineralogy and nutrients drive subregional variations. We estimate that in the top 0–30 cm soil layer, terrestrial ecosystems hold 27.6 Gt (19.6–39.0 Gt), and blue carbon ecosystems 0.35 Gt (0.20–0.62 Gt). Tall open eucalypt and mangrove forests have the largest soil carbon content by area, while eucalypt woodlands and hummock grasslands have the largest total carbon stock due to the vast areas they occupy. Our findings suggest these are essential ecosystems for conservation, preservation, emissions avoidance, and climate change mitigation because of the additional co-benefits they provide.

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Title: Multi-scale mapping of Australia’s terrestrial and blue carbon stocks and their continental and bioregional drivers
Creators: Lewis Walden - Curtin University
Oscar Serrano - Edith Cowan University
Mingxi Zhang - Curtin University
Zefang Shen - Curtin University
James Z Sippo - Southern Cross University
Lauren T Bennett - University of Melbourne
Damien T Maher - Southern Cross University
Catherine E Lovelock - University of Queensland
Peter I Macreadie - Deakin University
Connor Gorham - Edith Cowan University
Anna Lafratta - Edith Cowan University
Paul S Lavery - Edith Cowan University
Luke Mosley - University of Adelaide
Gloria M. S Reithmaier - University of Gothenburg
Jeffrey J Kelleway - University of Wollongong
Sabine Dittmann - Flinders University
Fernanda Adame - Griffith University
Carlos M Duarte - King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
John Barry Gallagher - University of Tasmania
Pawel Waryszak - Deakin University
Paul Carnell - Deakin University
Sabine Kasel - University of Melbourne
Nina Hinko-Najera - University of Melbourne
Rakib Hassan - Curtin University
Madeline Goddard - Charles Darwin University
Alice R Jones - University of Adelaide
Raphael A Viscarra Rossel - Curtin University
Publication Details: Communications earth & environment, Vol.4, 189
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Grant note: R.A.V.R., L.W., Z.S., and O.S. thank the Australian Government for funding this research via grant ACSRIV000077. O.S. thanks the additional support of I+D+i projects RYC2019-027073-I and PIE HOLOCENO 20213AT014 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033 and FEDER20213AT014.
Identifiers: 991013120980202368
Academic Unit: Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

Multi-scale mapping of Australia’s terrestrial and blue carbon stocks and their continental and bioregional drivers

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