The term Blue Carbon (BC) was first coined a decade ago to describe the disproportionately large contribution of coastal vegetated ecosystems to global carbon sequestration. The role of BC in climate change mitigation and adaptation has now reached international prominence. To help prioritise future research, we assembled leading experts in the field to agree upon the top-ten pending questions in BC science. Understanding how climate change affects carbon accumulation in mature BC ecosystems and during their restoration was a high priority. Controversial questions included the role of carbonate and macroalgae in BC cycling, and the degree to which greenhouse gases are released following disturbance of BC ecosystems. Scientists seek improved precision of the extent of BC ecosystems; techniques to determine BC provenance; understanding of the factors that influence sequestration in BC ecosystems, with the corresponding value of BC; and the management actions that are effective in enhancing this value. Overall this overview provides a comprehensive road map for the coming decades on future research in BC science.

Solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has become an important tool for examining the chemical structure of natural organic materials and the chemical changes associated with decomposition. In this paper, solid-state 13C NMR data pertaining to changes in the chemical composition of a diverse range of natural organic materials, including wood, peat, composts, forest litter layers, and organic materials in surface layers of mineral soils, were reviewed with the objective of deriving an index of the extent of decomposition of such organic materials based on changes in chemical composition. Chemical changes associated with the decomposition of wood varied considerably and were dependent on a strong interaction between the species of wood examined and the species composition of the microbial decomposer community, making the derivation of a single general index applicable to wood decomposition unlikely. For the remaining forms of natural organic residues, decomposition was almost always associated with an increased content of alkyl C and a decreased content of O-alkyl C. The concomitant increase and decrease in alkyl and O-alkyl C contents, respectively, suggested that the ratio of alkyl to O-alkyl carbon (A/O-A ratio) may provide a sensitive index of the extent of decomposition. Contrary to the traditional view that humic substances with an aromatic core accumulate as decomposition proceeds, changes in the aromatic region were variable and suggested a relationship with the activity of lignin-degrading fungi. The A/O-A ratio did appear to provide a sensitive index of extent of decomposition provided that its use was restricted to situations where the organic materials were derived from a common starting material. In addition, the potential for adsorption of highly decomposable materials on mineral soil surfaces and the impacts which such an adsorption may have on bioavailability required consideration when the A/O-A ratio was used to assess the extent of decomposition of organic materials found in mineral soils.