Dynamics of refractory carbon in seagrass meadows
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2016
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The protection and rehabilitation of natural landscapes in order to enhance their role in carbon sequestration is currently a hot topic for scientists and policymakers looking for solutions to reduce atmospheric CO₂ levels. Blue carbon ecosystems (seagrass, mangrove, saltmarsh) have recently been found to match or even exceed the capability of terrestrial ecosystems to sequester carbon. In seagrass habitats, seagrass carbon alone can account for half of the carbon in the top 10 cm of sediment. Litter quality, often measured as refractory carbon content, is one of the main factors that can influence the sequestration and storage of refractory carbon. Yet to-date, there has been little attempt to understand what factors help or hinder refractory carbon preservation in seagrass sediments.
The aim of this thesis was to unravel the processes and factors that influence, and even optimise, the preservation of refractory carbon in seagrass meadows beginning with the refractory carbon content in seagrass tissues, its persistence (or remineralisation) during decomposition and finally, its preservation in sediments and the mechanisms that provoke further remineralisation after burial. To accomplish these aims, a multi-variable approach was taken, which involved assessing the main and interaction effects of biological, chemical and environmental/physical variables on refractory carbon remineralisation and storage.
The results from this thesis revealed that the processes that affect refractory carbon dynamics in seagrass meadows are complex. It was shown that, while inherent refractory carbon content in the tissues can promote sequestration, decomposition was a strong influence on the persistence of refractory carbon. Anoxic conditions and structural complexity of the tissues promoted refractory carbon preservation and were dependent on the microbial communities present. Sheath and stem tissues were considered to be important carbon contributors due to their high refractory carbon content and chance of in situ burial. Temperature and the availability of labile organic matter and inorganic nutrients enhanced decay in the short-term under oxic conditions, while physical disturbance and habitat loss caused losses of sediment refractory carbon over the course of months to years depending on the type of disturbance.
In light of these results, a new conceptual model was developed for seagrass decomposition and have highlighted several important avenues of future blue carbon research, including the functional roles of microbes (bacteria, fungi and protists) in carbon remineralisation via bioinformatics and enzymes kinetics, as well as the conversion, or ‘up-cycling’, of labile carbon to refractory carbon within microbial biomass.
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