An international study led by CEAB-CSIC and published in Nature Communications presents the first global assessment of blue carbon accumulated in the living parts of seagrass plants. According to the results, their leaves, rhizomes and roots store up to 40 million tonnes of carbon worldwide. To this figure must be added the carbon stored in the seabed, which can remain sequestered for thousands of years, as long as the meadow persists. The data confirm that, despite covering a very small area, these ecosystems play a key role in absorbing atmospheric CO₂, transforming it, and retaining it.

A study by researchers from the UK, Ghana and the USA - and led by the University of Plymouth (UK) used thermal imaging technology and other sensors to measure the leaf temperatures found at CO₂ levels forecast to occur in 2050. It found that temperatures within the forest canopies rose by around 1.3°C as a direct consequence of increases in CO₂ – from an average of 21.5°C under current conditions to 22.8°C at the predicted 2050 CO₂ levels. They believe that as well as having a direct impact on leaf pore structure, it could impact trees’ ability to transmit water back into the environment, which would have a knock-on effect on the water cycle globally.

Fossil fragments found on University-owned land in Hudspeth County, Texas