Blue carbon stocks and exchanges along the California coast

Abstract

Salt marshes and seagrass meadows can sequester and store high quantities of organic carbon (OC) in their sediments relative to other marine and terrestrial habitats. Assessing carbon stocks, carbon sources, and the transfer of carbon between habitats within coastal seascapes are each integral in identifying the role of blue carbon habitats in coastal carbon cycling. Here, we quantified carbon stocks, sources, and exchanges in seagrass meadows, salt marshes, and unvegetated sediments in six bays along the California coast. In the top 20 cm of sediment, the salt marshes contained approximately twice as much OC as seagrass meadows did, 4.92 ± 0.36 kg OC m−2 compared to 2.20 ± 0.24 kg OC m−2, respectively. Both salt marsh and seagrass sediment carbon stocks were higher than previous estimates from this region but lower than global and US-wide averages, respectively. Seagrass-derived carbon was deposited annually into adjacent marshes during fall seagrass senescence. However, isotope mixing models estimate that negligible amounts of this seagrass material were ultimately buried in underlying sediment. Rather, the vast majority of OC in sediment across sites was likely derived from planktonic/benthic diatoms and/or C3 salt marsh plants.