High variability of Blue Carbon storage in seagrass meadows at the estuary scale
Aurora M. Ricart, Paul York, Catherine Bryant, Michael Rasheed, Daniel Ierodiaconou, Peter I. Macreadie
Abstract
Abstract Seagrass meadows are considered important natural carbon sinks due to their capacity to store organic carbon (C org ) in sediments. However, the spatial heterogeneity of carbon storage in seagrass sediments needs to be better understood to improve accuracy of Blue Carbon assessments, particularly when strong gradients are present. We performed an intensive coring study within a sub-tropical estuary to assess the spatial variability in sedimentary C org associated with seagrasses, and to identify the key factors promoting this variability. We found a strong spatial pattern within the estuary, from 52.16 mg C org cm −3 in seagrass meadows in the upper parts, declining to 1.06 mg C org cm −3 in seagrass meadows at the estuary mouth, despite a general gradient of increasing seagrass cover and seagrass habitat extent in the opposite direction. The sedimentary C org underneath seagrass meadows came principally from allochthonous (non-seagrass) sources (~70–90 %), while the contribution of seagrasses was low (~10–30 %) throughout the entire estuary. Our results showed that C org stored in sediments of seagrass meadows can be highly variable within an estuary, attributed largely to accumulation of fine sediments and inputs of allochthonous sources. Local features and the existence of spatial gradients must be considered in Blue Carbon estimates in coastal ecosystems.