Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Estuaries and Coasts

Publisher

Springer

School

School of Science / Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research

RAS ID

31673

Funders

Funding was provided to PM by the Generalitat de Catalunya (MERS 2017 SGR—1588) and an Australian Research Council LIEF Project (LE170100219).

Grant Number

ARC Number : LE170100219

Grant Link

http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LE170100219

Comments

Novak, A. B., Pelletier, M. C., Colarusso, P., Simpson, J., Gutierrez, M. N., Arias-Ortiz, A., ... & Vella11, P. (2020). Factors influencing carbon stocks and accumulation rates in eelgrass meadows across New England, USA. Estuaries and Coasts. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00754-9

Abstract

Increasing the protection of coastal vegetated ecosystems has been suggested as one strategy to compensate for increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere as the capacity of these habitats to sequester and store carbon exceeds that of terrestrial habitats. Seagrasses are a group of foundation species that grow in shallow coastal and estuarine systems and have an exceptional ability to sequester and store large quantities of carbon in biomass and, particularly, in sediments. However, carbon stocks (Corg stocks) and carbon accumulation rates (Corg accumulation) in seagrass meadows are highly variable both spatially and temporally, making it difficult to extrapolate this strategy to areas where information is lacking. In this study, Corg stocks and Corg accumulation were determined at 11 eelgrass meadows across New England, representing a range of eutrophication and exposure conditions. In addition, the environmental factors and structural characteristics of meadows related to variation in Corg stocks were identified. The objectives were accomplished by assessing stable isotopes of δ13C and δ15N as well as %C and %N in plant tissues and sediments, measuring grain size and 210Pb of sediment cores, and through assessing site exposure. Variability in Corg stocks in seagrass meadows is well predicted using commonly measured environmental variables such as grain size distribution. This study allows incorporation of data and insights for the northwest Atlantic, where few studies on carbon sequestration by seagrasses have been conducted.

DOI

10.1007/s12237-020-00754-9

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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