ReviewBiology letters2018
Sequestration of macroalgal carbon: the elephant in the Blue Carbon room.
Review in Biology letters, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review of marine macroalgal degradation: Toward a better understanding of macroalgal carbon sequestration potential.Journal of phycology · 2025Pooled it
- Whole System Analysis Is Required To Determine The Fate Of Macroalgal Carbon: A Systematic Review.Journal of phycology · 2022Pooled it
- Production, Biodegradation, and Recalcitrance of Organic Carbon from Cultivated Saccharina latissima in Norway.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Recovery Following Harvesting ofEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Diel and tidal rhythms drive fish acoustic communities in a European kelp forest.BMC ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Distribution of coastal blue carbon habitats in Sweden and their exposure to anthropogenic pressure.Ambio · 2026Article
- Article
- Characterizing the diversity and distribution of tropical coastal blue carbon using environmental DNA.iScience · 2025Article
- Potential blue carbon in the fringe of Southern European Kelp forests.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Environmental Stressors Modulating Seasonal and Daily Carbon Dioxide Assimilation and Productivity inPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Carbon dynamics under loss and restoration scenarios in the world's largest seagrass meadow.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Warming Seawater Temperature and Nutrient Depletion Alters Microbial Community Composition on a Foundational Canopy Kelp Species.Environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Sea urchin intestinal bacterial communities depend on seaweed diet and contain nitrogen-fixing symbionts.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2025Article
- Factors Regulating the Potential for Freshwater Mineral Soil Wetlands to Function as Natural Climate Solutions.Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) · 2025Review
- A blueprint for national assessments of the blue carbon capacity of kelp forests applied to Canada's coastline.npj ocean sustainability · 2025Article
- Subarctic sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima, Phaeophyceae) summer productivity and contribution to carbon budgets.Journal of phycology · 2024Article
- The potential climate benefits of seaweed farming in temperate waters.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- What if the upwelling weakens? Effects of rising temperature and nutrient depletion on coastal assemblages.Oecologia · 2024Article
- Article
- Macroalgae farming for sustainable future: Navigating opportunities and driving innovation.Heliyon · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Macroalgae form the most extensive and productive benthic marine vegetated habitats globally but their inclusion in Blue Carbon (BC) strategies remains controversial. We review the arguments offered to reject or include macroalgae in the BC framework, and identify the challenges that have precluded macroalgae from being incorporated so far. Evidence that macroalgae support significant carbon burial is compelling. The carbon they supply to sediment stocks in angiosperm BC habitats is already included in current assessments, so that macroalgae are de facto recognized as important donors of BC. The key challenges are (i) documenting macroalgal carbon sequestered beyond BC habitat, (ii) tracing it back to source habitats, and (iii) showing that management actions at the habitat lead to increased sequestration at the sink site. These challenges apply equally to carbon exported from BC coastal habitats. Because of the large carbon sink they support, incorporation of macroalgae into BC accounting and actions is an imperative. This requires a paradigm shift in accounting procedures as well as developing methods to enable the capacity to trace carbon from donor to sink habitats in the ocean.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.