Hidden Uncertainty: Human Activity Severs Critical Link Between Soil Carbon and Density in Coastal Zones

Coastal wetlands are among the most powerful carbon sinks on the planet, but a new study reveals that the standard methods used to measure this stored carbon may be systematically underestimating uncertainty in coastal zones. Researchers found that human activities, such as farming, are breaking the fundamental relationship between soil organic carbon and bulk density in coastal zones. This decoupling throws significant uncertainty into blue carbon accounting--a key tool in global climate strategies. The findings challenge the widespread reliance on traditional land-based formulas to estimate carbon in these dynamic, human-impacted environments.