Data from: Effects of small-scale, shading-induced seagrass loss on blue carbon storage: Implications for management of degraded seagrass ecosystems

1. Seagrass meadows are important global ‘blue carbon’ sinks. Despite a 30% loss of seagrasses globally during the last century, there is limited empirical research investigating the effects of disturbance and loss of seagrass on blue carbon stocks. 2. In this study, we hypothesised that seagrass loss would reduce blue carbon stocks. Using shading cloth, we simulated small-scale die-offs of two subtropical seagrass species, Halodule wrightii and Thalassia testudinum, in a dynamic northern Gulf of Mexico lagoon. The change in quantity and quality of sediment organic matter and organic carbon were compared among kill, control and bare plots before the kill treatment, shortly after the kill treatment and 11 months after the kill treatment. 210 Pb age dating was performed on bare and Thalassia plots at 11 months to evaluate the impact of sediment erosion in the absence of vegetation. 3. The small-scale die-off led to a 50-65% organic matter (OM) loss in the sediment in the top 8 cm of Halodule plots. Thalassia plots lost significant portions OM (50%) and organic carbon (C; 21-47%) in only the top 1 cm of sediment. The 210 Pb profiles indicated Thalassia die-off reduced the C sequestration rate by 10%, in addition to a loss of ~1 years’ worth of C stocks (~22 g m-2,Trevathan-Tackett_etal_JAE_rawdataAll data is included in one file and includes, sampling descriptions, GPS points, organic matter data, elemental and isotope data, thermogravimetric analysis data, and age-dating data.,

1. 海草床是全球重要的蓝碳汇（blue carbon sinks）。尽管过去一个世纪全球海草资源已减少30%，但针对海草受干扰及消失对蓝碳储量影响的实证研究仍较为匮乏。
2. 本研究提出假说：海草消失会降低蓝碳储量。研究人员利用遮光布，在墨西哥湾北部一处动态泻湖中模拟了两种亚热带海草物种——希氏二药藻（Halodule wrightii）与泰莱藻（Thalassia testudinum）的小规模死亡事件。在处理前、处理后即刻及处理后11个月三个时间节点，分别对比了死亡样区、对照样区与裸地样区的沉积物有机质与有机碳的数量及质量变化。处理后11个月时，研究人员对裸地样区和泰莱藻样区开展了²¹⁰Pb定年分析，以评估无植被覆盖情况下的沉积物侵蚀影响。
3. 小规模海草死亡事件导致希氏二药藻样区0~8cm表层沉积物的有机质（OM）流失50%~65%。泰莱藻样区仅0~1cm表层沉积物出现显著有机质流失（50%）与有机碳（C；21%~47%）流失。²¹⁰Pb剖面数据显示，泰莱藻死亡不仅使碳储量流失约1年的固存量（约22 g·m⁻²），还将碳固存速率降低了10%。Trevathan-Tackett等人的JAE原始数据集（Trevathan-Tackett_etal_JAE_rawdata）收录全部数据，所有内容均存储于单个文件中，涵盖采样说明、GPS点位、有机质数据、元素与同位素数据、热重分析数据及定年数据。