Abstract

Seagrass ecosystems are considered as major blue carbon sinks, thus contributing directly to the mitigation of climate change by storing carbon in their habitats. However, empirical data for carbon stocks in Malaysia seagrass meadow sediment remain unreported in a standardised format. This paper presents data on organic (OC) and inorganic carbon (IC) stocks, and stable isotope signatures of carbon (?13C) in bulk seagrass sediments collected from Sungai Pulai estuary (Johor, Malaysia). Within this estuary, seagrasses form shoals at Tanjung Adang and Merambong. Organic carbon and ?13C values in bulk sediment were analysed by an elemental analyser and a continuous flow isotope-ratio mass spectrometer, respectively, while sediment IC data was derived from loss-on-ignition calculations of sample mass differences. The data from these samples are presented as downcore profile of OC (values range at 0.14% to 2.49%), IC (0.16% to 5.29%), ?13C values of organic matter (-27.9‰ to -20.4‰), and cumulative carbon stocks (1.03-3.39 kg OC m-2 and 0.76-2.84 kg IC m-2) in the top 30 cm of sediments. This dataset is applicable for regional and local blue carbon studies, which would allow insights into carbon sink and carbon cycling capacity, in addition to gaining insights into the provenances of carbon stored in seagrass meadows.

Highlights

  • Seagrass ecosystem has been considered as efficient natural carbon sink [1] but a large variation in carbon storage capacity exists depending on the composition of the species and its habitat characteristics [2]

  • Blue carbon ecosystems are often threatened by anthropogenic causes, which lead to the losses of seagrass meadow and the reduction of carbon storage capacity

  • We provide site-specific data on organic carbon and δ13C signatures that represents the carbon storage characteristics in the seagrass meadow

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Summary

Introduction

Seagrass ecosystem has been considered as efficient natural carbon sink [1] but a large variation in carbon storage capacity exists depending on the composition of the species and its habitat characteristics [2]. One of the important ways to mitigate climate change is through the storage and retention of blue carbon in vegetated coastal ecosystem such as seagrass meadows. Blue carbon ecosystems are often threatened by anthropogenic causes, which lead to the losses of seagrass meadow and the reduction of carbon storage capacity. Increasing losses of the seagrass ecosystem worldwide weakens the carbon sink capacity [7] and will cause re-emission of CO2 back to the atmosphere [8]. The data provides a primary baseline in the ecosystem services for carbon storage, which would be useful in applying to studies related to understanding carbon cycling and the origin of the carbon at a meadow-wide scale

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