Climate change threatens shallow Arctic infaunal blue carbon stocks

In the light of high carbon dioxide emissions and the progressing climate change, blue carbon solutions and climate feedback loops have received much attention. Here I study biological traits of Mollusca along a latitudinal gradient to demonstrate that outstanding high biomass stocks in shallow (< 150m) Arctic fjord sediments are associated with large, long-lived suspension feeders that play only minor roles at greater depth and fjords in sub-Arctic and temperate climate zones. Using the latitudinal gradient as space-for-time surrogate, the results suggest that climate change will cause decreasing blue carbon stores in Arctic fjords and that a positive climate feedback loop exists.