Seagrass Abundance Predicts Surficial Soil Organic Carbon Stocks Across the Range of Thalassia testudinum in the Western North Atlantic

• Published in: Estuaries and Coasts
• Main Authors: Fourqurean, J. W., Campbell, Justin E., Rhoades, O. Kennedy, Munson, Calvin J., Krause, Johannes R., Altieri, Andrew H., Douglass, James G., Heck, Kenneth L., Paul, Valerie J., Armitage, Anna R., Barry, Savanna C., Bethel, Enrique, Christ, Lindsey, Christianen, Marjolijn J.A., Dodillet, Grace, Dutton, Katrina, Frazer, Thomas K., Gaffey, Bethany M., Glazner, Rachael, Goeke, Janelle A., Grana-Valdes, Rancel, Kramer, Olivier A.A., Linhardt, Samantha T., Martin, Charles W., López, Isis Gabriela Martínez, McDonald, Ashley M., Main, Vivienne A., Manuel, Sarah A., Marco-Méndez, Candela, O’Brien, Duncan A., O’Shea, Owen, Patrick, Christopher J., Peabody, Clare, Reynolds, Laura K., Rodriguez, Alex, Bravo, Lucia M.Rodriguez, Sang, Amanda, Sawall, Yvonne, Smulders, Fee O.H., Thompson, Jamie E., van Tussenbroek, Brigitta, Wied, William L., Wilson, Sara S.
• Other Authors: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, Institute of Environment, Coastlines and Oceans Division, and Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th St., Miami, FL, 33199, USA, Smithsonian Marine Station, 701 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, FL, 34949, USA, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Hakai Institute, Heriot Bay, BC, Canada, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060, USA, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado, 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama, Florida Gulf Coast University, The Water School, 10501 FGCU Boulevard South, Fort Myers, FL, 33965, USA, Dauphin Island Sea Lab and School of Marine and Environmental Studies, University of South Alabama, 101 Bienville Blvd., Dauphin Island, AL, 36528, USA, Department of Marine Biology, Texas A&M University at Galveston, PO Box 1675, Galveston, TX, 77553, USA, UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station, University of Florida, 552 1st St., Cedar Key, FL, 32625, USA, The Centre for Ocean Research and Education (CORE), Gregory Town, PO Box 255-16, Eleuthera, Bahamas, International Field Studies, Inc., Forfar Field Station, Blanket Sound, Andros, Bahamas, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands, CSA Ocean Sciences Inc., 8502 SW Kansas Ave., Stuart, FL, 34997, USA, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, 140 7th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL, 33701, USA, Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA, Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales-Puerto Morelos, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Prolongación Niños Héroes s/n, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico, University of Florida, Soil, Water and Ecosystem Sciences Department, PO Box 110290, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA, Florida Oceanographic Society, 890 NE Ocean Blvd., Stuart, FL, 34996, USA, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Government of Bermuda, “Shorelands”, 17 North Shore Road, FL04, Hamilton Parish, Bermuda, CEAB (CSIC), C/d’accés a la Cala St. Francesc, 14, Blanes, Girona, Spain, Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, VA, 23062-1346, USA, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), 17 Biological Station, GE01, St. George’s, Bermuda
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2023
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10754/692034; https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-023-01210-0

The organic carbon (Corg) stored in seagrass meadows is globally significant and could be relevant in strategies to mitigate increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Most of that stored Corg is in the soils that underlie the seagrasses. We explored how seagrass and soil characteristics vary among seagrass meadows across the geographic range of turtlegrass (Thalassia testudinum) with a goal of illuminating the processes controlling soil organic carbon (Corg) storage spanning 23° of latitude. Seagrass abundance (percent cover, biomass, and canopy height) varied by over an order of magnitude across sites, and we found high variability in soil characteristics, with Corg ranging from 0.08 to 12.59% dry weight. Seagrass abundance was a good predictor of the Corg stocks in surficial soils, and the relative importance of seagrass-derived soil Corg increased as abundance increased. These relationships suggest that first-order estimates of surficial soil Corg stocks can be made by measuring seagrass abundance and applying a linear transfer function. The relative availability of the nutrients N and P to support plant growth was also correlated with soil Corg stocks. Stocks were lower at N-limited sites than at P-limited ones, but the importance of seagrass-derived organic matter to soil Corg stocks was not a function of nutrient limitation status. This finding seemed at odds with our observation that labile standard substrates decomposed more slowly at N-limited than at P-limited sites, since even though decomposition rates were 55% lower at N-limited sites, less Corg was accumulating in the soils. The dependence of Corg stocks and decomposition rates on nutrient availability suggests that eutrophication is likely to exert a strong influence on carbon storage in seagrass meadows. Funding for this project was provided by the US National Science Foundation (grant #s OCE-1737247 to JEC, AHA, and VJP, OCE-2019022 to JEC, OCE-1737144 to KLH, and OCE-1737116 to JGD). MJAC was supported by NWO-Veni grant 181.002. JWF was ...