Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Carbon Sequestration In A Pacific Northwest Eelgrass (Zostera Marina) Meadow, Katrina L. Poppe, John M. Rybczyk

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Coastal wetlands are known to be efficient carbon sinks due to high rates of primary productivity, carbon burial by mineral sediments, and low rates of sediment organic matter decomposition. Of the three coastal wetland types: tidal marshes, tidal forests, and seagrass meadows, carbon burial by seagrasses is relatively under-studied, and reported rates range widely from 45 to 190 g C m^-2 yr^-1. Additionally, most of these seagrass rates are biased toward tropical and subtropical species, particularly Posidonia oceanica, with few focused on Zostera marina, the most widespread species in the northern hemisphere. We measured sediment …