Articles | Volume 23, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7309-2026
© Author(s) 2026. 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-23-7309-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Linking sea–air and benthic methane fluxes across seasons in a tropical seagrass meadow of Taiwan
Hsiao-Chun Tseng
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Marine Environment and Ecology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan
Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan
Agnes Sonya Meilani Lumban Gaol
Doctoral Degree Program in Ocean Resource and Environmental Changes, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan
Fu-Hsuen Lin
Institute of Marine Environment and Ecology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan
Jian-Jhih Chen
Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Wen-Chen Chou
Institute of Marine Environment and Ecology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan
Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan
Related authors
No articles found.
Mariche Bandibas-Natividad, Jian-Jhih Chen, Hsin-Yu Chou, Lan-Feng Fan, Yi-Le Shen, and Wen-Chen Chou
Biogeosciences, 22, 5157–5171, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5157-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5157-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Seagrass restoration serves as a nature-based solution for carbon dioxide removal. We examined the organic carbon and carbonate dynamics of restored seagrass (SG) and bare sediment (BS) using ex situ core incubations. SG exhibited higher net ecosystem metabolism compared to BS, while no significant difference was observed in net ecosystem calcification. Consequently, SG demonstrated a significantly enhanced overall capacity for carbon uptake.
Cited articles
Al-Haj, A. N., Chidsey, T., and Fulweiler, R. W.: Two temperate seagrass meadows are negligible sources of methane and nitrous oxide, Limnol. Oceanogr., 67, https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12250, 2022.
Alongi, D. M., Trott, L. A., Undu, M. C., and Tirendi, F.: Benthic microbial metabolism in seagrass meadows along a carbonate gradient in Sulawesi, Indonesia, Aquat. Microb. Ecol., 51, 141–152, https://doi.org/10.3354/ame01191, 2008.
Arndt, S., Jørgensen, B. B., LaRowe, D. E., Middelburg, J. J., Pancost, R. D., and Regnier, P.: Quantifying the degradation of organic matter in marine sediments: A review and synthesis, Earth-Sci. Rev., 123, 53–86, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.02.008, 2013.
Asplund, M. E., Bonaglia, S., Boström, C., Dahl, M., Deyanova, D., Gagnon, K., Gullström, M., Holmer, M., and Björk, M.: Methane Emissions From Nordic Seagrass Meadow Sediments, Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.811533, 2022.
Bahlmann, E., Weinberg, I., Lavrič, J. V., Eckhardt, T., Michaelis, W., Santos, R., and Seifert, R.: Tidal controls on trace gas dynamics in a seagrass meadow of the Ria Formosa lagoon (southern Portugal), Biogeosciences, 12, 1683–1696, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1683-2015, 2015.
Banerjee, K., Paneerselvam, A., Ramachandran, P., Ganguly, D., Singh, G., and Ramesh, R.: Seagrass and macrophyte mediated CO2 and CH4 dynamics in shallow coastal waters, PLoS One, 13, e0203922, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203922, 2018.
Camillini, N.: Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling in Seagrass Ecosystems, PhD thesis, Southern Cross University and University of Southern Denmark, https://doi.org/10.25918/thesis.152, 2020.
Chen, J.-J., Wang, S.-L., Chou, W.-C., Shiu, R.-F., Tseng, H.-C., Chen, T.-Y., and Natividad, M. B.: Habitat-specific metabolism, dissolved organic carbon fluxes, and composition in a tropical seagrass meadow, Estuar. Coast. Shelf S., 336, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2026.109864, 2026.
Chen, T.-Y., Chen, J.-J., and Chou, W.-C.: Rethinking blue carbon: unlocking invisible carbon sinks, Environ. Res. Lett., 19, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad7044, 2024.
Dai, G., Chen, X., Zhuang, G., Zhang, Y., Zhu, P., Ju, F., and Li, L.: High Methane Production and Emission From Tropical Seagrasses Through Methylotrophic Methanogenesis, Geophys. Res. Lett., 52, e2024GL113824, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL113824, 2025.
Duarte, C. M., Kennedy, H., Marbà, N., and Hendriks, I.: Assessing the capacity of seagrass meadows for carbon burial: Current limitations and future strategies, Ocean Coast. Manage., 83, 32–38, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2011.09.001, 2013.
Eyre, B. D., Camillini, N., Glud, R. N., and Rosentreter, J. A.: The climate benefit of seagrass blue carbon is reduced by methane fluxes and enhanced by nitrous oxide fluxes, Communications Earth & Environment, 4, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01022-x, 2023.
Falter, J. L. and Sansone, F. J.: Shallow pore water sampling in reef sediments, Coral Reefs, 19, 93–97, https://doi.org/10.1007/s003380050233, 2000.
Fourqurean, J. W., Duarte, C. M., Kennedy, H., Marbà, N., Holmer, M., Mateo, M. A., Apostolaki, E. T., Kendrick, G. A., Krause-Jensen, D., McGlathery, K. J., and Serrano, O.: Seagrass ecosystems as a globally significant carbon stock, Nat. Geosci., 5, 505–509, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1477, 2012.
Garcias-Bonet, N. and Duarte, C. M.: Methane Production by Seagrass Ecosystems in the Red Sea, Frontiers in Marine Science, 4, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00340, 2017.
George, R., Gullstrom, M., Mtolera, M. S. P., Lyimo, T. J., and Bjork, M.: Methane emission and sulfide levels increase in tropical seagrass sediments during temperature stress: A mesocosm experiment, Ecol. Evol., 10, 1917–1928, https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6009, 2020.
Halim, M., Stankovic, M., and Prathep, A.: A preliminary study of carbon dioxide and methane emissions from patchy tropical seagrass meadows in Thailand, PeerJ, 12, e18087, https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.18087, 2024.
Henriksson, L., Yau, Y. Y. Y., Majtényi-Hill, C., Ljungberg, W., Tomer, A. S., Zhao, S., Wang, F., Cabral, A., Asplund, M., and Santos, I. R.: Drivers of Seasonal and Diel Methane Emissions From a Seagrass Ecosystem, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 129, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jg008079, 2024.
Howard, J., Sutton-Grier, A. E., Smart, L. S., Lopes, C. C., Hamilton, J., Kleypas, J., Simpson, S., McGowan, J., Pessarrodona, A., Alleway, H. K., and Landis, E.: Blue carbon pathways for climate mitigation: Known, emerging and unlikely, Mar. Policy, 156, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2023.105788, 2023.
IPCC: Changing State of the Climate System, in: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 287–422, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157896.004, 2021.
Kuwae, T., Watanabe, A., Yoshihara, S., Suehiro, F., and Sugimura, Y.: Implementation of blue carbon offset crediting for seagrass meadows, macroalgal beds, and macroalgae farming in Japan, Mar. Policy, 138, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.104996, 2022.
Lan, X., Thoning, K. W., and Dlugokencky, E. J.: Trends in globally-averaged CH4, N2O, and SF6, NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory measurements, Version 2026–07, https://doi.org/10.15138/P8XG-AA10, 2026.
Li, L., Jiang, Z., Wu, Y., He, J., Fang, Y., Lin, J., Liu, S., and Huang, X.: Interspecific differences in root exudation for three tropical seagrasses and sediment pore-water dissolved organic carbon beneath them, Mar. Pollut. Bull., 173, 113059, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113059, 2021.
Lin, H. J., Chen, K. Y., Kao, Y. C., Lin, W. J., Lin, C. W., and Ho, C. W.: Assessing Coastal Blue Carbon Sinks in Taiwan, Marine Research, 3, https://doi.org/10.29677/MR.202312_3(2).0001, 2023.
Liang, T., Dong, J., Zhou, W., Huang, X., Liu, H., Zhang, Y., Yang, Q., Ahmad, M., Chen, L., and Ling, J.: Investigation on the aerobic methanotrophic community and the dominant taxon Methylomarinum in seagrass ecosystem, Environmental Microbiome, 20, 67, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-025-00736-z, 2025.
Lovelock, C. E. and Duarte, C. M.: Dimensions of Blue Carbon and emerging perspectives, Biol. Lett., 15, 20180781, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0781, 2019.
Lyimo, L. D., Gullström, M., Lyimo, T. J., Deyanova, D., Dahl, M., Hamisi, M. I., and Björk, M.: Shading and simulated grazing increase the sulphide pool and methane emission in a tropical seagrass meadow, Mar. Pollut. Bull., 134, 89–93, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.09.005, 2018.
Mallon, J., Banaszak, A. T., Donachie, L., Exton, D., Cyronak, T., Balke, T., and Bass, A. M.: A low-cost benthic incubation chamber for in-situ community metabolism measurements, PeerJ, 10, e13116, https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13116, 2022.
Mcleod, E., Chmura, G. L., Bouillon, S., Salm, R., Björk, M., Duarte, C. M., Lovelock, C. E., Schlesinger, W. H., and Silliman, B. R.: A blueprint for blue carbon: toward an improved understanding of the role of vegetated coastal habitats in sequestering CO2, Front. Ecol. Environ., 9, 552–560, https://doi.org/10.1890/110004, 2011.
Natividad, M. B., Cai, W.-J., Bednaršek, N., Chen, J.-J., and Chou, W.-C.: Organic–inorganic carbon coupling shapes carbon dioxide fluxes in seagrass ecosystems, Communications Earth & Environment, 7, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03805-4, 2026.
Neubauer, S. C. and Megonigal, J. P.: Moving Beyond Global Warming Potentials to Quantify the Climatic Role of Ecosystems, Ecosystems, 18, 1000–1013, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-015-9879-4, 2015.
Olivé, I., Silva, J., Costa, M. M., and Santos, R.: Estimating Seagrass Community Metabolism Using Benthic Chambers: The Effect of Incubation Time, Estuar. Coast., 39, 138–144, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-015-9973-z, 2016.
Oreska, M. P. J., McGlathery, K. J., Aoki, L. R., Berger, A. C., Berg, P., and Mullins, L.: The greenhouse gas offset potential from seagrass restoration, Sci. Rep., 10, 7325, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64094-1, 2020.
Pajares, S., Bohannan, B. J. M., and Souza, V.: The Role of Microbial Communities in Tropical Ecosystems, Front. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.3389/978-2-88945-067-1, 2017.
Reeburgh, W. S.: Oceanic Methane Biogeochemistry, Chem. Rev., 107, 486–513, https://doi.org/10.1021/cr050362v, 2007.
Rissanen, A. J., Karvinen, A., Nykanen, H., Peura, S., Tiirola, M., Maki, A., and Kankaala, P.: Effects of alternative electron acceptors on the activity and community structure of methane-producing and consuming microbes in the sediments of two shallow boreal lakes, FEMS Microbiol. Ecol., 93, https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fix078, 2017.
Rosentreter, J. A., Borges, A. V., Deemer, B. R., Holgerson, M. A., Liu, S., Song, C., Melack, J., Raymond, P. A., Duarte, C. M., Allen, G. H., Olefeldt, D., Poulter, B., Battin, T. I., and Eyre, B. D.: Half of global methane emissions come from highly variable aquatic ecosystem sources, Nat. Geosci., 14, 225–230, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00715-2, 2021.
Roth, F., Wild, C., Carvalho, S., Rädecker, N., Voolstra, C. R., Kürten, B., Anlauf, H., El-Khaled, Y. C., Carolan, R., Jones, B. H., and Trueman, C.: An in situ approach for measuring biogeochemical fluxes in structurally complex benthic communities, Methods Ecol. Evol., 10, 712–725, https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.13151, 2019.
Saderne, V., Dunne, A. F., Rich, W. A., Cadiz, R., Carvalho, S., Cúrdia, J., and Kattan, A.: Seasonality of methane and carbon dioxide emissions in tropical seagrass and unvegetated ecosystems, Communications Earth & Environment, 4, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00759-9, 2023.
Schorn, S., Ahmerkamp, S., Bullock, E., Weber, M., Lott, C., Liebeke, M., Lavik, G., Kuypers, M. M. M., Graf, J. S., and Milucka, J.: Diverse methylotrophic methanogenic archaea cause high methane emissions from seagrass meadows, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2106628119, 2022.
Sogin, E. M., Michellod, D., Gruber-Vodicka, H. R., Bourceau, P., Geier, B., Meier, D. V., Seidel, M., Ahmerkamp, S., Schorn, S., D'Angelo, G., Procaccini, G., Dubilier, N., and Liebeke, M.: Sugars dominate the seagrass rhizosphere, Nat. Ecol. Evol., https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01740-z, 2022.
Sun, H., Yu, R., Liu, X., Cao, Z., Li, X., Zhang, Z., Wang, J., Zhuang, S., Ge, Z., Zhang, L., Sun, L., Lorke, A., Yang, J., Lu, C., and Lu, X.: Drivers of spatial and seasonal variations of CO2 and CH4 fluxes at the sediment water interface in a shallow eutrophic lake, Water Res., 222, 118916, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2022.118916, 2022.
Tan, W., Zhong, Z., He, Q., Yun, X., Yang, L., Wang, X., Ji, D., Wang, G., Zhao, J., and Zhang, X.: Methane emission fluxes and associated microbial community characteristics in a temperate seagrass meadow, Sci. Total Environ., 958, 177991, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177991, 2025.
Tang, Z.-W., Chen, H.-F., Puntu, J. M., Chang, P.-Y., Lo, L., Chen, J.-J., Chou, W.-C., Fan, L.-F., and Chang, Y.-J.: Evaluation of Carbon Sequestration in Seagrass Meadows of Kenting: A Comparative Study with Penghu and Dongsha Island, J. Mar. Sci. Technol., 33, https://doi.org/10.51400/2709-6998.2775, 2025.
Tseng, H.-C.: Data from: Linking Sea–Air and Benthic Methane Fluxes Across Seasons in a Tropical Seagrass Meadow of Taiwan, Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19079212, 2026.
Tseng, H.-C., Lin, C.-C., Pan, H.-J., Han, Y. T. Y., and Gong, G.-C.: Seasonal Distributions of Methane in a Populous Urban Coastal Sea Area, Frontiers in Marine Science, 9, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.843549, 2022.
Villnas, A., Norkko, J., Lukkari, K., Hewitt, J., and Norkko, A.: Consequences of increasing hypoxic disturbance on benthic communities and ecosystem functioning, PLoS One, 7, e44920, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044920, 2012.
Wanninkhof, R.: Relationship between wind speed and gas exchange over the ocean revisited, Limnol. Oceanogr.-Meth., 12, 351–362, https://doi.org/10.4319/lom.2014.12.351, 2014.
Webb, A. P. and Eyre, B. D.: Effect of natural populations of burrowing thalassinidean shrimp on sediment irrigation, benthic metabolism, nutrient fluxes and denitrification, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 268, 205–220, https://doi.org/10.3354/meps268205, 2004.
Weber, T., Wiseman, N. A., and Kock, A.: Global ocean methane emissions dominated by shallow coastal waters, Nat. Commun., 10, 4584, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12541-7, 2019.
Weiss, R. F.: Determinations of Carbon Dioxide and Methane by Dual Catalyst Flame lonization Chromatography and Nitrous Oxide by Electron Capture Chromatography, J. Chromatogr. Sci., 19, 611–616, https://doi.org/10.1093/chromsci/19.12.611, 1981.
Wiesenburg, D. A. and Guinasso Jr., N. L.: Equilibrium Solubilities of Methane,Carbon Monoxide, and Hydrogen in Water and Sea Water, J. Chem. Eng. Data, 24, 356–360, https://doi.org/10.1021/je60083a006, 1979.
Yau, Y. Y. Y., Reithmaier, G., Majtényi-Hill, C., Serrano, O., Piñeiro-Juncal, N., Dahl, M., Mateo, M. A., Bonaglia, S., and Santos, I. R.: Methane Emissions in Seagrass Meadows as a Small Offset to Carbon Sequestration, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 128, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jg007295, 2023.
Yu, H., Coffin, R., and Organ, H.: Dynamics of methane emissions from northwestern Gulf of Mexico subtropical seagrass meadows, Biogeochemistry, 167, 723–741, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-024-01138-y, 2024.
Short summary
Seagrass meadows help mitigate climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing carbon in the seabed. However, they can also release methane. We found that seagrass sediments released methane more consistently and at higher rates than nearby bare sand, while bare sand sediments showed occasional methane pulses following storms. Most sediment-produced methane was likely transported laterally or removed through microbial oxidation.
Seagrass meadows help mitigate climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint