Articles | Volume 18, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4717-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4717-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
18 Aug 2021
Research article |
| 18 Aug 2021
| 18 Aug 2021
Blue carbon stocks and exchanges along the California coast
Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis, 95616, USA
Coastal and Marine Institute, San Diego State University, 92182, USA
Tessa M. Hill
Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis, 95616, USA
Chelsey Souza
Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis, 95616, USA
Tessa Filipczyk
Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis, 95616, USA
Aurora M. Ricart
Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis, 95616, USA
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, 04544, USA
Sarah Merolla
Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis, 95616, USA
Lena R. Capece
Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis, 95616, USA
Brady C O'Donnell
Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis, 95616, USA
Kristen Elsmore
Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis, 95616, USA
Walter C. Oechel
Coastal and Marine Institute, San Diego State University, 92182, USA
Kathryn M. Beheshti
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of California, Santa Cruz
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Short summary
Salt marshes and seagrass meadows ("blue carbon" habitats) can sequester and store high levels of organic carbon (OC), helping to mitigate climate change. In California blue carbon sediments, we quantified OC storage and exchange between these habitats. We find that (1) these salt marshes store about twice as much OC as seagrass meadows do and (2), while OC from seagrass meadows is deposited into neighboring salt marshes, little of this material is sequestered as "long-term" carbon.
Salt marshes and seagrass meadows ("blue carbon" habitats) can sequester and store high levels...
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