Microbial Consortia in Salt Marsh Sediments and Their Role in Carbon Decomposition
Salt marshes play a crucial global role in carbon storage, impacting climate change and the stability of coastal ecosystems. Their sediments hold between 400 and 6500 teragrams (Tg) of organic carbon (Duarte et al. 2011) and annually store an additional 10.2 to 44.6 megatons (Mt), equivalent to 0.5–1.0% of human-caused carbon emissions (Ouyang and Lee 2014).
Despite this important function, carbon storage in salt marshes is declining. Over a recent nine-year period, habitat loss led to emissions of 16.3 Tg of CO2 and reduced CO2 burial by 0.045 Tg annually (Campbell et al.).
Rapid sea level rise and a warming climate threaten to destabilize these organic carbon stocks, creating uncertain outcomes for carbon storage (Fontaine et al.).
Microbial Diversity and Carbon Cycling
Microbial communities in salt marsh sediments are diverse both compositionally and metabolically, shaping the soil organic carbon (SOC) pools within the ecosystem (Bulseco et al.).
Knowledge gaps remain regarding the metabolic potential and spatial distribution of these microbes, often revealing new carbon cycling pathways involving previously unrecognized taxa (Payne et al.).
Understanding how microbial consortia influence carbon pools is essential to grasp the fate, formation, and changes of blue carbon stocks over time.
"Salt marsh sediments contain between 400 – 6500 Tg of organic carbon (Duarte et al. 2011) and store an additional 10.2 - 44.6 Mt annually, the equivalent of 0.5-1.0% of anthropogenic C emissions (Ouyang and Lee 2014)."
"Salt marsh habitat loss resulted in emission of 16.3 Tg of CO2 and a reduction of 0.045 Tg of CO2 burial per year (Campbell et al.)."
"Microbial communities within salt marsh sediments are compositionally and metabolically diverse and their interactions influence pools of soil organic carbon (SOC) (Bulseco et al.)."
Author's summary: Microbial communities in salt marsh sediments, vital for carbon storage, are affected by habitat loss and climate change, highlighting the need to understand their complex role in carbon cycling and ecosystem stability.
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