Supplementary material to "Carbon storage in seagrass soils: long-term nutrient history exceeds the effects of near-term nutrient enrichment" (original) (raw)
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Carbon storage by seagrass community.pdf
We analyzed stored carbon in the Above Ground Biomass (AGB) and Below Ground Biomass (BGB) of three seagrass species in Koswari, Kariyachalli and Vilanguchalli during March, 2014 at Gulf of Mannar. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) was also monitored simultaneously to evaluate the amount of stored carbon in the underlying soil of the intertidal mud flat in the study area. In the selected quadrate, the order of abundance of the seagrass species was Cymodocea serrulata > Thalassia hemprichii > Halophila ovalis. Pronounced variation was observed between AGB and BGB in all the three species. The ratio of AGB and BGB ranged from 1:1.25-1:1.30. The Above Ground Carbon (AGC) and Below Ground Carbon (BGC) also exhibited significant variation with highest value in Cymodocea serrulata followed by Thalassia hemprichii and Halophila ovalis.
Seagrass: A Store House of Carbon
We analyzed stored carbon in the Above Ground Biomass (AGB) and Below Ground Biomass (BGB) of three seagrass species in Koswari, Kariyachalli and Vilanguchalli during March, 2014 at Gulf of Mannar. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) was also monitored simultaneously to evaluate the amount of stored carbon in the underlying soil of the intertidal mud flat in the study area. In the selected quadrate, the order of abundance of the seagrass species was Cymodocea serrulata > Thalassia hemprichii > Halophila ovalis. Pronounced variation was observed between AGB and BGB in all the three species. The ratio of AGB and BGB ranged from 1:1.25-1:1.30. The Above Ground Carbon (AGC) and Below Ground Carbon (BGC) also exhibited significant variation with highest value in Cymodocea serrulata followed by Thalassia hemprichii and Halophila ovalis.
Marine and Freshwater Research, 2012
Seagrass meadows in Florida Bay and Shark Bay contain substantial stores of both organic carbon and nutrients. Soils from both systems are predominantly calcium carbonate, with an average of 82.1% CaCO3 in Florida Bay compared with 71.3% in Shark Bay. Soils from Shark Bay had, on average, 21% higher organic carbon content and 35% higher phosphorus content than Florida Bay. Further, soils from Shark Bay had lower mean dry bulk density (0.78 ± 0.01 g mL–1) than those from Florida Bay (0.84 ± 0.02 mg mL–1). The most hypersaline regions of both bays had higher organic carbon content in surficial soils. Profiles of organic carbon and phosphorus from Florida Bay indicate that this system has experienced an increase in P delivery and primary productivity over the last century; in contrast, decreasing organic carbon and phosphorus with depth in the soil profiles in Shark Bay point to a decrease in phosphorus delivery and primary productivity over the last 1000 y. The total ecosystem stocks ...
Losses and recovery of organic carbon from a seagrass ecosystem following disturbance
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2015
Seagrasses are among the Earth's most efficient and long-term carbon sinks, but coastal development threatens this capacity. We report new evidence that disturbance to seagrass ecosystems causes release of ancient carbon. In a seagrass ecosystem that had been disturbed 50 years ago, we found that soil carbon stocks declined by 72%, which, according to radiocarbon dating, had taken hundreds to thousands of years to accumulate. Disturbed soils harboured different benthic bacterial communities (according to 16S rRNA sequence analysis), with higher proportions of aerobic heterotrophs compared with undisturbed. Fingerprinting of the carbon (via stable isotopes) suggested that the contribution of autochthonous carbon (carbon produced through plant primary production) to the soil carbon pool was less in disturbed areas compared with seagrass and recovered areas. Seagrass areas that had recovered from disturbance had slightly lower (35%) carbon levels than undisturbed, but more than twi...