Articles | Volume 12, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4993-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4993-2015
Research article
 | 
24 Aug 2015
Research article |  | 24 Aug 2015

Seagrass meadows as a globally significant carbonate reservoir

I. Mazarrasa, N. Marbà, C. E. Lovelock, O. Serrano, P. S. Lavery, J. W. Fourqurean, H. Kennedy, M. A. Mateo, D. Krause-Jensen, A. D. L. Steven, and C. M. Duarte

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Cited articles

Barrón, C. and Duarte, C. M.: Dissolved organic matter release in a Posidonia oceanica meadow, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 374, 75–84, 2009.
Borowitzka, M. A., Lethbridge, R. C., and Charlton, L.: Species richness, spatial distribution and colonisation pattern of algal and invertebrate epiphytes on the seagrass Amphibolis griffithii, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 64, 281–291, 1990.
Bosence, D. and Wilson, J.: Maerl growth, carbonate production rates and accumulation rates in the NE Atlantic, Aquat. Conserv., 13, S21–S31, 2003.
Canals, M. and Ballesteros, E.: Production of carbonate particles by phytobenthic communities on the Mallorca-Menorca shelf, northwestern Mediterranean Sea, Deep Sea Res. Pt. II, 44, 611–629, 1997.
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Short summary
There has been growing interest in quantifying the capacity of seagrass ecosystems to act as carbon sinks as a natural way of offsetting anthropogenic carbon emissions to the atmosphere. However, most of the efforts have focused on the organic fraction and ignored the inorganic carbon pool. This study offers the first global assessment of PIC stocks and accumulation rates in seagrass sediments, identifying these ecosystems as important contributors to carbonate dynamics in coastal areas.
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