Carbon burial in sediments below seaweed farms matches that of Blue Carbon habitats

Carlos M. Duarte; Antonio Delgado-Huertas; Elisa Marti; Beat Gasser; Isidro San Martin; Alexandra Cousteau; Fritz Neumeyer; Megan Reilly-Cayten; Joshua Boyce; Tomohiro Kuwae; Masakazu Hori; Toshihiro Miyajima; Nichole N. Price; Suzanne Arnold; Aurora M. Ricart; Simon Davis; Noumie Surugau; Al Jeria Abdul; Jiaping Wu; Xi Xiao; Ik Kyo Chung; Chang Geun Choi; Calvyn F.A. Sondak; Hatim Albasri; Dorte Krause-Jensen; Annette Bruhn; Teis Boderskov; Kasper Hancke; Jon Funderud; Ana R. Borrero-Santiago; Fred Pascal; Paul Joanne; Lanto Ranivoarivelo; William T. Collins; Jennifer Clark; Juan Fermin Gutierrez; Ricardo Riquelme; Marcela Avila; Peter I. Macreadie; Pere Masque

doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02238-1

Carbon burial in sediments below seaweed farms matches that of Blue Carbon habitats

Carlos M. Duarte^*, Antonio Delgado-Huertas, Elisa Marti, Beat Gasser, Isidro San Martin, Alexandra Cousteau, Fritz Neumeyer, Megan Reilly-Cayten, Joshua Boyce, Tomohiro Kuwae, Masakazu Hori, Toshihiro Miyajima, Nichole N. Price, Suzanne Arnold, Aurora M. Ricart, Simon Davis, Noumie Surugau, Al Jeria Abdul, Jiaping Wu, Xi XiaoIk Kyo Chung, Chang Geun Choi, Calvyn F.A. Sondak, Hatim Albasri, Dorte Krause-Jensen, Annette Bruhn, Teis Boderskov, Kasper Hancke, Jon Funderud, Ana R. Borrero-Santiago, Fred Pascal, Paul Joanne, Lanto Ranivoarivelo, William T. Collins, Jennifer Clark, Juan Fermin Gutierrez, Ricardo Riquelme, Marcela Avila, Peter I. Macreadie, Pere Masque

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Abstract

Seaweed farming has emerged as a potential Blue Carbon strategy, yet empirical estimates of carbon burial from such farms remain lacking in the literature. Here, we quantify carbon burial in 20 seaweed farms distributed globally, ranging from 2 to 300 years in operation and from 1 to 15,000 ha in size. The thickness of sediment layers and stocks of organic carbon accumulated below the farms increased with farm age, reaching 140 tC ha⁻¹ for the oldest farm. Organic carbon burial rates averaged 1.87 ± 0.73 tCO₂e ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ in farm sediments, twice that in reference sediments. The excess CO₂e burial attributable to the seaweed farms averaged 1.06 ± 0.74 CO₂e ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, confirming that seaweed farming in depositional environments buries carbon in the underlying sediments at rates towards the low range of that of Blue Carbon habitats, but increasing with farm age.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature Climate Change
Volume	15
Issue	2
Pages (from-to)	180–187
Number of pages	8
ISSN	1758-678X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02238-1
Publication status	Published - Feb 2025

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Duarte, C. M., Delgado-Huertas, A., Marti, E., Gasser, B., Martin, I. S., Cousteau, A., Neumeyer, F., Reilly-Cayten, M., Boyce, J., Kuwae, T., Hori, M., Miyajima, T., Price, N. N., Arnold, S., Ricart, A. M., Davis, S., Surugau, N., Abdul, A. J., Wu, J., ... Masque, P. (2025). Carbon burial in sediments below seaweed farms matches that of Blue Carbon habitats. Nature Climate Change, 15(2), 180–187 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02238-1

@article{18c7456bd138442fbfecfa8bbded3b4f,

title = "Carbon burial in sediments below seaweed farms matches that of Blue Carbon habitats",

abstract = "Seaweed farming has emerged as a potential Blue Carbon strategy, yet empirical estimates of carbon burial from such farms remain lacking in the literature. Here, we quantify carbon burial in 20 seaweed farms distributed globally, ranging from 2 to 300 years in operation and from 1 to 15,000 ha in size. The thickness of sediment layers and stocks of organic carbon accumulated below the farms increased with farm age, reaching 140 tC ha−1 for the oldest farm. Organic carbon burial rates averaged 1.87 ± 0.73 tCO2e ha−1 yr−1 in farm sediments, twice that in reference sediments. The excess CO2e burial attributable to the seaweed farms averaged 1.06 ± 0.74 CO2e ha−1 yr−1, confirming that seaweed farming in depositional environments buries carbon in the underlying sediments at rates towards the low range of that of Blue Carbon habitats, but increasing with farm age.",

author = "Duarte, {Carlos M.} and Antonio Delgado-Huertas and Elisa Marti and Beat Gasser and Martin, {Isidro San} and Alexandra Cousteau and Fritz Neumeyer and Megan Reilly-Cayten and Joshua Boyce and Tomohiro Kuwae and Masakazu Hori and Toshihiro Miyajima and Price, {Nichole N.} and Suzanne Arnold and Ricart, {Aurora M.} and Simon Davis and Noumie Surugau and Abdul, {Al Jeria} and Jiaping Wu and Xi Xiao and Chung, {Ik Kyo} and Choi, {Chang Geun} and Sondak, {Calvyn F.A.} and Hatim Albasri and Dorte Krause-Jensen and Annette Bruhn and Teis Boderskov and Kasper Hancke and Jon Funderud and Borrero-Santiago, {Ana R.} and Fred Pascal and Paul Joanne and Lanto Ranivoarivelo and Collins, {William T.} and Jennifer Clark and Gutierrez, {Juan Fermin} and Ricardo Riquelme and Marcela Avila and Macreadie, {Peter I.} and Pere Masque",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2025.",

year = "2025",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1038/s41558-024-02238-1",

language = "English",

volume = "15",

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Duarte, CM, Delgado-Huertas, A, Marti, E, Gasser, B, Martin, IS, Cousteau, A, Neumeyer, F, Reilly-Cayten, M, Boyce, J, Kuwae, T, Hori, M, Miyajima, T, Price, NN, Arnold, S, Ricart, AM, Davis, S, Surugau, N, Abdul, AJ, Wu, J, Xiao, X, Chung, IK, Choi, CG, Sondak, CFA, Albasri, H, Krause-Jensen, D , Bruhn, A , Boderskov, T, Hancke, K, Funderud, J, Borrero-Santiago, AR, Pascal, F, Joanne, P, Ranivoarivelo, L, Collins, WT, Clark, J, Gutierrez, JF, Riquelme, R, Avila, M, Macreadie, PI & Masque, P 2025, 'Carbon burial in sediments below seaweed farms matches that of Blue Carbon habitats', Nature Climate Change, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 180–187 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02238-1

TY - JOUR

T1 - Carbon burial in sediments below seaweed farms matches that of Blue Carbon habitats

AU - Duarte, Carlos M.

AU - Delgado-Huertas, Antonio

AU - Marti, Elisa

AU - Gasser, Beat

AU - Martin, Isidro San

AU - Cousteau, Alexandra

AU - Neumeyer, Fritz

AU - Reilly-Cayten, Megan

AU - Boyce, Joshua

AU - Kuwae, Tomohiro

AU - Hori, Masakazu

AU - Miyajima, Toshihiro

AU - Price, Nichole N.

AU - Arnold, Suzanne

AU - Ricart, Aurora M.

AU - Davis, Simon

AU - Surugau, Noumie

AU - Abdul, Al Jeria

AU - Wu, Jiaping

AU - Xiao, Xi

AU - Chung, Ik Kyo

AU - Choi, Chang Geun

AU - Sondak, Calvyn F.A.

AU - Albasri, Hatim

AU - Krause-Jensen, Dorte

AU - Bruhn, Annette

AU - Boderskov, Teis

AU - Hancke, Kasper

AU - Funderud, Jon

AU - Borrero-Santiago, Ana R.

AU - Pascal, Fred

AU - Joanne, Paul

AU - Ranivoarivelo, Lanto

AU - Collins, William T.

AU - Clark, Jennifer

AU - Gutierrez, Juan Fermin

AU - Riquelme, Ricardo

AU - Avila, Marcela

AU - Macreadie, Peter I.

AU - Masque, Pere

PY - 2025/2

Y1 - 2025/2

N2 - Seaweed farming has emerged as a potential Blue Carbon strategy, yet empirical estimates of carbon burial from such farms remain lacking in the literature. Here, we quantify carbon burial in 20 seaweed farms distributed globally, ranging from 2 to 300 years in operation and from 1 to 15,000 ha in size. The thickness of sediment layers and stocks of organic carbon accumulated below the farms increased with farm age, reaching 140 tC ha−1 for the oldest farm. Organic carbon burial rates averaged 1.87 ± 0.73 tCO2e ha−1 yr−1 in farm sediments, twice that in reference sediments. The excess CO2e burial attributable to the seaweed farms averaged 1.06 ± 0.74 CO2e ha−1 yr−1, confirming that seaweed farming in depositional environments buries carbon in the underlying sediments at rates towards the low range of that of Blue Carbon habitats, but increasing with farm age.

AB - Seaweed farming has emerged as a potential Blue Carbon strategy, yet empirical estimates of carbon burial from such farms remain lacking in the literature. Here, we quantify carbon burial in 20 seaweed farms distributed globally, ranging from 2 to 300 years in operation and from 1 to 15,000 ha in size. The thickness of sediment layers and stocks of organic carbon accumulated below the farms increased with farm age, reaching 140 tC ha−1 for the oldest farm. Organic carbon burial rates averaged 1.87 ± 0.73 tCO2e ha−1 yr−1 in farm sediments, twice that in reference sediments. The excess CO2e burial attributable to the seaweed farms averaged 1.06 ± 0.74 CO2e ha−1 yr−1, confirming that seaweed farming in depositional environments buries carbon in the underlying sediments at rates towards the low range of that of Blue Carbon habitats, but increasing with farm age.

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U2 - 10.1038/s41558-024-02238-1

DO - 10.1038/s41558-024-02238-1

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85217193912

SN - 1758-678X

VL - 15

SP - 180

EP - 187

JO - Nature Climate Change

JF - Nature Climate Change

IS - 2

ER -

Carbon burial in sediments below seaweed farms matches that of Blue Carbon habitats

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