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Using marine macroalgae for carbon sequestration: a critical appraisal

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Abstract

There has been a good deal of interest in the potential of marine vegetation as a sink for anthropogenic C emissions (“Blue Carbon”). Marine primary producers contribute at least 50% of the world’s carbon fixation and may account for as much as 71% of all carbon storage. In this paper, we analyse the current rate of harvesting of both commercially grown and wild-grown macroalgae, as well as their capacity for photosynthetically driven CO2 assimilation and growth. We suggest that CO2 acquisition by marine macroalgae can represent a considerable sink for anthropogenic CO2 emissions and that harvesting and appropriate use of macroalgal primary production could play a significant role in C sequestration and amelioration of greenhouse gas emissions.

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Acknowledgments

This review is the first activity of the WG-Asian Network of the Asian Pacific Phycological Association and has been supported by a grant ‘Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Using Seaweeds’ Project funded by the Korean Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Earth Environmental System, Pusan National University, Pusan, Republic of Korea

    Ik Kyo Chung

  2. School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia

    John Beardall, Smita Mehta & Slobodanka Stojkovic

  3. Marine Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007, India

    Dinabandhu Sahoo

  4. CSIRO, CMAR, Hobart, TAS, Australia

    Slobodanka Stojkovic

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  1. Ik Kyo Chung
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  2. John Beardall
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Correspondence to Ik Kyo Chung.

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Chung, I.K., Beardall, J., Mehta, S. et al. Using marine macroalgae for carbon sequestration: a critical appraisal. J Appl Phycol 23, 877–886 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-010-9604-9

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