Fig. 4: Conceptual diagram of factors driving soil Corg stocks in seagrass systems.
From: Global seagrass carbon stock variability and emissions from seagrass loss
Seagrasses produce Corg (net ecosystem productivity, NEP) and may exchange Corg with adjacent systems (lateral flux). Soil Corg stocks are a function of legacy carbon stocks, ecological and disturbance history (Pre-condition), increased by Corg burial (affected by sediment deposition, Corg content of deposited sediment, seagrass biomass, and persistence), and reduced by Corg remineralization (affected by erosion, fine sediment content, hydrodynamic energy, and microbial activity). Factors with green symbols (+) generally increase soil Corg stocks, while purple symbols (-) generally decrease soil Corg stocks, and factors with gray symbols (=) have no generalizable direction. Seagrass symbol adapted from Catherine Collier, JCU (license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
