Table 2 Soil organic carbon decay rates reported in the literature for blue carbon and terrestrial peatbog ecosystems

From: Soil organic carbon depth profiles and centennial and millennial decay rates in tidal marsh, mangrove and seagrass blue carbon ecosystems

Ecosystem

Species

Decay rate (yr-1)

Timeframe (yr)

Refs.

Tidal marsh

Spartina spp. rhizosphere

0.024

~100

19

Tidal marsh

Spartina spp. subsoil

0.01

~100

19

Seagrass

Posidonia oceanica rhizosphere

0.028

9–185

10

Seagrass

Posidonia sinuosa

0.0056

~500

21

Seagrass

Posidonia oceanica subsoil

0.0007

From 9–185 to 164–1917

10

Seagrass

Posidonia oceanica

0.00036

2000

20

Seagrass

Posidonia oceanica

0.00008

2500

20

Peatbog

Peat

0.00011

8000

174

Peatbog

Peat

0.00003

12,000

34

  1. The time frame used to estimate decay rates is indicated.
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