Blue Carbon in Shallow Coastal Ecosystems

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

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2. Blue Carbon: Characteristics of the Ocean’s Sequestration and Storage Ability of Carbon Dioxide

   • Masakazu Hori, Christopher J. Bayne, Tomohiro Kuwae

   Pages 1-31

3. Carbon Sequestration in Sediment as an Ecosystem Function of Seagrass Meadows

   • Toshihiro Miyajima, Masami Hamaguchi

   Pages 33-71

4. Carbon Sequestration in Mangroves

   • Tomomi Inoue

   Pages 73-99

5. Carbon Sequestration by Seagrass and Macroalgae in Japan: Estimates and Future Needs

   • Goro Yoshida, Masakazu Hori, Hiromori Shimabukuro, Hideki Hamaoka, Toshihiro Onitsuka, Natsuki Hasegawa et al.

   Pages 101-127

6. Carbon Storage in Tidal Flats

   • Toru Endo, Sosuke Otani

   Pages 129-151

7. Air–Water CO2 Flux in Shallow Coastal Waters: Theory, Methods, and Empirical Studies

   • Tatsuki Tokoro, Kenta Watanabe, Kazufumi Tada, Tomohiro Kuwae

   Pages 153-184

8. CO2 Fluxes in Mangrove Ecosystems

   • Anirban Akhand, Abhra Chanda, Sourav Das, Sugata Hazra, Tomohiro Kuwae

   Pages 185-221

9. CO2 Flux in Tidal Flats and Salt Marshes

   • Sosuke Otani, Toru Endo

   Pages 223-250

10. Quantifying the Fate of Captured Carbon: From Seagrass Meadows to the Deep Sea

    • Katsuyuki Abo, Koichi Sugimatsu, Masakazu Hori, Goro Yoshida, Hiromori Shimabukuro, Hiroshi Yagi et al.

    Pages 251-271

11. Carbon Dynamics in Coral Reefs

    • Atsushi Watanabe, Takashi Nakamura

    Pages 273-293

12. CO2 Uptake in the Shallow Coastal Ecosystems Affected by Anthropogenic Impacts

    • Tomohiro Kuwae, Jota Kanda, Atsushi Kubo, Fumiyuki Nakajima, Hiroshi Ogawa, Akio Sohma et al.

    Pages 295-319

13. Carbon Offset Utilizing Coastal Waters: Yokohama Blue Carbon Project

    • Masato Nobutoki, Satoru Yoshihara, Tomohiro Kuwae

    Pages 321-346

14. The Future of Blue Carbon: Addressing Global Environmental Issues

    • Tomohiro Kuwae, Masakazu Hori

    Pages 347-373

15. Correction to: The Future of Blue Carbon: Addressing Global Environmental Issues

    • Tomohiro Kuwae, Masakazu Hori

    Pages C1-C3

This book presents a comprehensive and innovative understanding of the role of shallow coastal ecosystems in carbon cycling, particularly marine carbon sequestration. Incorporating a series of forward-looking chapters, the book combines thorough reviews of the global literature and regional assessments—mainly around the Indo-Pacific region and Japan—with global perspectives to provide a thorough assessment of carbon cycling in shallow coastal systems. It advocates the expansion of blue-carbon ecosystems (mangroves, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes) into macroalgal beds, tidal flats, coral reefs, and urbanized shallow waters, demonstrating the potential of these ecosystems as new carbon sinks. Moreover, it discusses not only topics that are currently the focus of blue-carbon studies, i.e., sedimentary carbon stock and accumulation rate, but also CO₂ gas exchange between the atmosphere and shallow coastal ecosystems, carbon storage in the water column as refractory organic carbon, and off-site carbon storage. Including highly original contributions, this comprehensive work inspires research beyond the specific regions covered by the chapters. The suite of new concepts and approaches is refreshing and demonstrates that blue-carbon research is indeed a vibrant new field of research, providing deep insights into neglected aspects of carbon cycling in the marine environment. At the same time the book provides guidance for policy makers to deliver benefits to society, for example the inclusion of blue carbon as a carbon offset scheme or the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in the Paris Agreement, and also for building resilience in coastal socio-ecosystems through better management. This book is intended for all those interested in the science and management of coastal ecosystems.

• Carbon sequestration
• Shallow coastal ecosystems
• Seagrass meadows
• Coastal environmental
• Costal ecology
• Climate change management

• Coastal and Estuarine Environment Research Group, Port and Airport Research Institute, Yokosuka, Japan

  Tomohiro Kuwae

• National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Hatsukaichi, Japan

  Masakazu Hori

​Dr. Tomohiro Kuwae is the Group Head of the Coastal and Estuarine Environment Research Group, Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI), National Institute of Maritime, Port and Aviation Technology, Japan. He received his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Applied Biosciences from Kyoto University and was an Adjunct Professor at Kumamoto University. His research interests include biogeochemical cycling in shallow coastal waters, especially carbon dioxide sequestration and carbon storage in shallow coastal ecosystems; fundamental ecology such as food-web structure and function; and the conservation, restoration, and creation of coastal ecosystems.


Dr. Masakazu Hori is a Senior Researcher at the Coastal Macrophyte Ecosystem Research Group, National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea (FEIS), Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA). He received a Ph. D. in Marine Environments and Resources from the Graduate School of Fisheries Science, Hokkaido University. He worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Tokyo and an adjunct instructor at Hiroshima University. He specializes in community and ecosystem ecology, including plant–animal interactions, food-web analyses, ecosystem services, and social-ecological systems in shallow coastal ecosystems.

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