Articles | Volume 13, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4915-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4915-2016
Research article
 | 
07 Sep 2016
Research article |  | 07 Sep 2016

Can mud (silt and clay) concentration be used to predict soil organic carbon content within seagrass ecosystems?

Oscar Serrano, Paul S. Lavery, Carlos M. Duarte, Gary A. Kendrick, Antoni Calafat, Paul H. York, Andy Steven, and Peter I. Macreadie

Related authors

Reviews and syntheses: 210Pb-derived sediment and carbon accumulation rates in vegetated coastal ecosystems – setting the record straight
Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Pere Masqué, Jordi Garcia-Orellana, Oscar Serrano, Inés Mazarrasa, Núria Marbà, Catherine E. Lovelock, Paul S. Lavery, and Carlos M. Duarte
Biogeosciences, 15, 6791–6818, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6791-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6791-2018, 2018
Short summary
Key biogeochemical factors affecting soil carbon storage in Posidonia meadows
Oscar Serrano, Aurora M. Ricart, Paul S. Lavery, Miguel Angel Mateo, Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Pere Masque, Mohammad Rozaimi, Andy Steven, and Carlos M. Duarte
Biogeosciences, 13, 4581–4594, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4581-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4581-2016, 2016
Short summary
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
Biogeosciences, 12, 4993–5003, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4993-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4993-2015, 2015
Short summary

Related subject area

Biogeochemistry: Soils
Dissolved organic matter fosters core mercury-methylating microbiomes for methylmercury production in paddy soils
Qiang Pu, Bo Meng, Jen-How Huang, Kun Zhang, Jiang Liu, Yurong Liu, Mahmoud A. Abdelhafiz, and Xinbin Feng
Biogeosciences, 22, 1543–1556, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1543-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1543-2025, 2025
Short summary
A microbially driven and depth-explicit soil organic carbon model constrained by carbon isotopes to reduce parameter equifinality
Marijn Van de Broek, Gerard Govers, Marion Schrumpf, and Johan Six
Biogeosciences, 22, 1427–1446, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1427-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1427-2025, 2025
Short summary
Earth observation reveals reduced winter wheat growth and the importance of plant available water during drought
Hanna Sjulgård, Lukas Valentin Graf, Tino Colombi, Juliane Hirte, Thomas Keller, and Helge Aasen
Biogeosciences, 22, 1341–1354, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1341-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1341-2025, 2025
Short summary
Plutonium concentrations link soil organic matter decline to wind erosion in ploughed soils of South Africa
Joel Mohren, Hendrik Wiesel, Wulf Amelung, L. Keith Fifield, Alexandra Sandhage-Hofmann, Erik Strub, Steven A. Binnie, Stefan Heinze, Elmarie Kotze, Chris Du Preez, Stephen G. Tims, and Tibor J. Dunai
Biogeosciences, 22, 1077–1094, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1077-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1077-2025, 2025
Short summary
A synthesis of Sphagnum litterbag experiments: initial leaching losses bias decomposition rate estimates
Henning Teickner, Edzer Pebesma, and Klaus-Holger Knorr
Biogeosciences, 22, 417–433, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-417-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-417-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Adame, M. F., Kauffman, J. B., Medina, I., Gamboa, J. N., Torres, O., Caamal J. P., Reza, M., and Herrera-Silveira, J.: Carbon stocks of tropical coastal wetlands within the karstic landscape of the Mexican Caribbean, PLoS ONE, 8, e56569, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0056569, 2013.
Aller, R. C.: Mobile deltaic and continental shelf muds as suboxic, fluidized bed reactors, Mar. Chem., 61, 143–155, 1998.
Amundson, R.: The carbon budget in soils, Annu. Rev. Earth Pl. Sc., 29, 535–562, 2001.
Bergamaschi, B. A., Tsamakis, E., Keil, R. G., and Eglinton, T. I.: The effect of grain size and surface area on organic matter, lignin and carbohydrate concentration, and molecular compositions in Peru Margin sediments, Geochem. Cosmochim. Ac., 61, 1247–1260, 1997.
Burdige, D. J.: Preservation of Organic Matter in Marine Sediments: Controls, Mechanisms, and an Imbalance in Sediment Organic Carbon Budgets?, Chem. Rev., 107, 467–485, https://doi.org/10.1021/cr050347q, 2007.
Download
Short summary
We explored the relationship between organic carbon and mud (i.e. silt and clay) contents in seagrass ecosystems to address whether mud can be used to predict soil C content, thereby enabling robust scaling up exercises at a low cost as part of blue carbon stock assessments. We show that mud is not a universal proxy for blue carbon content in seagrass ecosystems, but it can be used to estimate soil Corg content when low biomass seagrass species (i.e. Zostera, Halodule and Halophila) are present.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint