WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
At Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, researchers tested 150 depth-interval coastal soil samples from mangrove, saltmarsh and paperbark zones with wet-soil mid-infrared spectroscopy. Functional-group bands varied with depth and vegetation-hydrology zone; surface litter signals were strongest near the top.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Coastal carbon monitoring can distinguish chemistry from quantity, but the choice of sampling depth and inundation zone changes the interpretation.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
One site with vegetation and tidal environment confounded; spectral assignments need independent biomarker or NMR validation before they are treated as mechanistic carbon-loss evidence.
SOURCE
Janik et al. · Journal of Soils and Sediments (3 Nov 2026)
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