Ocean Biodiversity Drives Carbon Capture Most — But Evidence Rests on Just Seven Datasets

The largest global biodiversity synthesis to date (423 studies, 222,829 data points) found ocean carbon sequestration responds to biodiversity more strongly than any other service, with an effect size of 1.48. Yet that conclusion rests on only 7 datasets, versus 154 for terrestrial carbon.

• Synthesis combined 423 studies and 222,829 data points across 23 ecosystem service categories
• Ocean carbon sequestration showed an effect size of 1.48, the strongest in the study
• Only 7 datasets cover ocean carbon vs 154 for terrestrial carbon sequestration
• Functional redundancy hypothesis failed: saturation was almost never observed in real data