Appreciating interconnectivity between habitats is key to blue carbon management

We welcome the recent synthesis by et al. (2017), which drew to the role of marine systems natural carbon sequestration the oceans as a fundamental of climate-change . importance of long-term in marine habitats (ie “blue ”) is rapidly gaining recognition is increasingly a of national and international to mitigate rising atmospheric of carbon dioxide. , effectively managing blue requires an appreciation of inherent connectivity between populations and habitats. so than their terrestrial counterparts, ecosystems are “open”, with high rates of transfer of , matter, genetic material, and across regional seascapes (Kinlan and Gaines 2003). We suggest policy frameworks, and the underpinning them, should not only on carbon sink habitats also on carbon source habitats, play critical roles in carbon cycling and natural sequestration in the oceans.