Estimation of metabolic dynamics of restored seagrass meadows in a Southeast Asia Islet: Insights from ex situ benthic incubation

Seagrass meadows are vital carbon sinks, but their function is threatened by rapid decline, driving restoration efforts to enhance coastal recovery and carbon removal. The capacity of these restored seagrasses as carbon sources or sinks depends largely on organic carbon metabolism and carbonate dynamics. In this study, we employed ex situ core incubation to investigate the metabolic rates of replanted seagrasses (SG), including gross primary productivity (GPP), community respiration (R), net ecosystem metabolism (NEM), and net ecosystem calcification (NEC) in SG and surrounding bare sediments (BS). SG exhibited higher GPP (26.0 ± 1.0 mmol O2 m-2 h-1 vs 0.7 ± 0.1 mmol O2 m-2 h-1) and NEM (208.2 ± 6.3 mmol O2 m-2 d-1 vs 20.1 ± 2.8 mmol O2 m-2 d-1) than BS, indicating their potential as carbon sinks by shifting benthic metabolism towards a more autotrophic state. In contrast, SG showed higher daytime carbonate production and nighttime carbonate dissolution, which could offset each other, r..., , # Data from: Estimation of metabolic dynamics of restored seagrass meadows in a Southeast Asia Islet: Insights from ex situ benthic incubation

#### Description of the data and file structure

**File name: Dateset_Penghu.xlsx**

**Sheet 1.** Carbonate chemistry: Contains the carbonate chemistry parameters (nTA, nDIC, pCO2, pH, and aragonite saturation state) between seagrass (SG) and bare sediment (BS)

**Sheet 2.** Metabolic rates: Contains the DO values, metabolic rates in terms of respiration (R), gross primary productivity (GPP), and net ecosystem metabolism (NEM) between seagrass (SG) and bare sediment (BS). n=9

**Sheet 3.** Carbonate dynamics: Contains the normalized Total Alkalinity (nTA) and the net ecosystem calcification (NEC) between seagrass (SG) and bare sediment (BS). n=3

1. VARIABLE LISTS:

A. DATA SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Carbonate chemistry
1. Number of variables: 7 (Columns A-G)
2. Number of rows: 31
3. Variable list:
* Treatment : SG = Seagrass; B...,