Increasing the protection of coastal vegetated ecosystems has been suggested as one strategy to compensate for increasing carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere as the capacity of these habitats to sequester and store carbon exceeds that of terrestrial habitats. Seagrasses are a group of foundation species that grow in shallow coastal and estuarine systems and have an exceptional ability to sequester and store large quantities of carbon in biomass and, particularly, in sediments. However, carbon stocks (C_org stocks) and carbon accumulation rates (C_org accumulation) in seagrass meadows are highly variable both spatially and temporally, making it difficult to extrapolate this strategy to areas where information is lacking. In this study, C_org stocks and C_org accumulation were determined at 11 eelgrass meadows across New England, representing a range of eutrophication and exposure conditions. In addition, the environmental factors and structural characteristics of meadows related to variation in C_org stocks were identified. The objectives were accomplished by assessing stable isotopes of δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N as well as %C and %N in plant tissues and sediments, measuring grain size and ²¹⁰Pb of sediment cores, and through assessing site exposure. Variability in C_org stocks in seagrass meadows is well predicted using commonly measured environmental variables such as grain size distribution. This study allows incorporation of data and insights for the northwest Atlantic, where few studies on carbon sequestration by seagrasses have been conducted.

有人建议增加对沿海植被生态系统的保护，作为补偿大气中二氧化碳（CO ₂）增加的一种策略，因为这些生境的螯合和储存碳的能力超过了陆地生境。海草是一群生长在浅海和河口系统中的基础物种，它们具有截留和储存大量生物量（特别是沉积物中）碳的出色能力。但是，海草草甸的碳储量（C _org储量）和碳积累速率（C _org积累）在空间和时间上都高度可变，因此很难将此策略推断到缺乏信息的地区。在这项研究中，C _org在新英格兰地区的11个鳗草草地上测定了种群的蓄积量和_Corg的蓄积量，这代表了一系列富营养化和暴露条件。此外，还确定了与_Corg种群变化有关的草甸环境因素和结构特征。目标是通过评估的δ稳定同位素完成¹³ C和δ ¹⁵ N作为以及％C和％N在植物组织和沉积物，测量粒度和²¹⁰的沉积物核的铅，以及通过评估站点曝光。C _org中的可变性使用通常测量的环境变量（例如粒度分布）可以很好地预测海草草甸的种群数量。这项研究可以纳入西北大西洋的数据和见解，而有关海草固碳的研究很少。