Global estimates of seagrass blue carbon stocks in biomass and net primary production

Authors/Creators

• Enric Gomis
• Simone Strydom, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Nicole R. Foster
• Diana Montemayor
• Miguel A. Mateo, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Eduard Serrano
• Karina Inostroza
• Roisin McCallum, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Anna Lafratta, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Chanelle L. Webster, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Caitlyn L. O’Dea, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Nicole E. Said, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Natasha Dunham, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Rachele Bernasconi, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Axel Werner, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Federico Vitelli, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Viena Puigcorbé
• Alexandra D’Cruz, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Cristian Salinas, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Kathryn M. McMahon, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Glenn A. Hyndes, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Paul S. Lavery, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Albert Pessarodona
• Carlose M. Duarte
• Oscar Serrano, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow

Author Identifier (ORCID)

Simone Strydom: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0080-483X

Miguel A. Mateo: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7567-0277

Roisin McCallum: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0358-2371

Anna Lafratta: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8414-2417

Chanelle L. Webster: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8227-9791

Caitlyn L. O’Dea: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9637-2682

Nicole E. Said: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8603-9536

Natasha Dunham: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1261-7924

Rachele Bernasconi: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7973-8803

Axel Werner: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9445-8570

Federico Vitelli: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3289-9594

Alexandra D’Cruz: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9364-972X

Cristian Salinas: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4716-5991

Kathryn M. McMahon: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4355-6247

Glenn A. Hyndes: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3525-1665

Paul S. Lavery: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5162-273X

Oscar Serrano: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5973-0046

Abstract

Seagrass meadows play a key role in the global carbon cycle through storing carbon in their biomass and soils. However, the lack of global assessments of carbon stocks in seagrass biomass and net primary production (NPP) limits our understanding of their role in the carbon cycle. Here, we provide global estimates of biomass carbon stocks and NPP encompassing seagrasses with different life-history strategies, across bioregions and 66 countries. Seagrass meadows show up to 800-fold differences in biomass across different life-history strategies and bioregions (mean ± SE; 1551 ± 40 kg C ha⁻¹), whereas seagrass NPP (5833 ± 557 kg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) ranks among the highest within photosynthetic ecosystems. We estimate seagrass biomass carbon stocks at 24–40 Tg C and NPP at 83–137 Tg C yr⁻¹ within 160,387 to 266,500 km² of global seagrass extent. This study showcases the role of seagrasses in the global carbon cycle and provides the basis for their inclusion in carbon crediting schemes towards implementing conservation actions for climate change mitigation.

Keywords

Seagrass meadows, carbon stocks, net primary production, blue carbon, global carbon cycle, climate change mitigation

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

12-1-2025

Volume

16

Issue

1

PubMed ID

41184302

Publication Title

Nature Communications

Publisher

Nature

School

Centre for People, Place and Planet / Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research / School of Science

RAS ID

84452

Funders

I + D + i projects RYC2019-027073-I & MEDCHANGE funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 / European Union (101105307-POSIDONIArXiv)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Comments

Gomis, E., Strydom, S., Foster, N. R., Montemayor, D., Mateo, M. A., Serrano, E., Inostroza, K., McCallum, R., Lafratta, A., Webster, C. L., O’Dea, C. M., Said, N. E., Dunham, N., Bernasconi, R., Werner, A., Vitelli, F., Puigcorbe, V., D’Cruz, A., Salinas, C., . . . Serrano, O. (2025). Global estimates of seagrass blue carbon stocks in biomass and net primary production. Nature Communications, 16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64667-6