ABSTRACT
Future development patterns and an anticipated doubling of the population by 2050 could diminish both the economic and environmental integrity of Tampa Bay’s coastal habitat resources. Raabe et al. 2012 demonstrated that Tampa Bay emergent blue carbon ecosystems are trending toward subtropical-dominant mangrove forest habitats. Carbonate-rich sediments in Tampa Bay may provide a mechanism for enhanced blue carbon benefits from seagrass meadows. Distinct meso-oligohaline salt marsh plant communities are found predominantly in Tampa Bay tidal rivers and creeks where freshwater inflow reduces salinities year-round to between 0.5 and 20 psu. The potential for voluntary C market financing of blue carbon ecosystem restoration in Tampa Bay would be an additional resource management tool that would help sustain momentum for the Bay’s continued ecosystem recovery. Resource managers have an added tool to engage public and private landowners in potential C market financing incentives that would provide the needed space for Tampa Bay blue carbon ecosystems to thrive in the future.
