Seagrass sediment organic carbon burial rates are globally significant

Abstract Seagrass ecosystems are pivotal contributors to coastal carbon sequestration through the long-term burial of organic carbon (OC) in sediments. Yet global burial estimates remain uncertain, with early values of 138 ± 38 g OC m-2 yr-1 derived from a limited dataset biased toward highly depositional communities and indirect, production-based approaches. We call for a downward revision, supported by a data-driven assessment based on a global synthesis of 326 dated sediment cores integrating OC burial over the last century. We find that seagrass meadows bury OC at a geometric mean rate of 26 ± 2 g OC m-2 yr-1, with an area-weighted global average of 33 ± 10 g OC m-2 yr-1 accounting for bioregional differences in seagrass distribution. Globally, these rates scale to 6–16 Tg C yr-1, based on current mapped seagrass extent (247,800–366,200 km2), and reveal that ~15% of seagrass net community production is retained and buried locally. Although our estimate is roughly one-fourth of earlier values, seagrass sediments still account for 3–6% of total oceanic OC burial, despite occupying <0.1% of the seafloor. Combined with mangroves and tidal marshes, OC burial in vegetated coastal sediments represents an estimated 8–13% of total oceanic OC burial.