Weakening in ability of urban estuaries to sequester carbon

The Science Alert article Urban estuaries 100-fold weaker as ‘Blue Carbon sinks reports that Australian scientists have found a 100-fold weakening in the ability of coastal ecosystems to sequester carbon since the time of European settlement. Collecting soil cores from sites in and around Botany Bay, the scientists have reconstructed the past six thousand years in estuary sedimentation records and found that changes in plant and algae abundance point to a possible undermining of these natural coastal carbon sinks.