The influence of mussel restoration on coastal carbon cycling

Increasing responsiveness to anthropogenic climate change and the loss of global shellfish ecosystems has heightened interest in the carbon storage and sequestration potential of bivalve‐dominated systems. While coastal ecosystems are dynamic zones of carbon transformation and change, current uncertainties and notable heterogeneity in the benthic environment make it difficult to ascertain the climate change mitigation capacity of ongoing coastal restoration projects aimed at revitalizing benthic bivalve populations. In this study we sought to distinguish between direct and indirect effects of subtidal green‐lipped mussels (Perna canaliculus) on carbon cycling, and combined published literature with in‐situ experiments from restored beds to create a carbon budget for New Zealand's shellfish restoration efforts. A direct summation of biogenic calcification, community respiration, and sediment processes suggests a moderate carbon efflux (+100.1 to 179.6 g C m(−2) year(−1)) occurs as a result of recent restoration efforts, largely reflective of the heterotrophic nature of bivalves. However, an examination of indirect effects of restoration on benthic community metabolism and sediment dynamics suggests that beds achieve greater carbon fixation rates and support enhanced carbon burial compared to nearby sediments devoid of mussels. We discuss limitations to our first‐order approximation and postulate how the significance of mussel restoration to carbon‐related outcomes likely increases over longer timescales. Coastal restoration is often conducted to support the provisioning of many ecosystem services, and we propose here that shellfish restoration not be used as a single measure to offset carbon dioxide emissions, but rather used in tandem with other initiatives to recover a bundle of valued ecosystem services.