It's no secret, most of us would like to stay in our own home as we age. Yet, sometimes our loved ones just need a little extra help to remain comfortable at home. That's where Always Best Care can help....we are dedicated to exceeding expectations....always.
They say that your golden years are the best years of your life. For most older Americans, that's how it should be - a time to relax, reflect, and live life in a familiar place. After all, senior citizens in the U.S. have worked tirelessly to build a better economy, serve their communities, and raise families.
However, as seniors grow older, completing daily tasks like showering and enjoying activities such as visiting Historic Mansfield Covered Bridge in Carbon, IN gets harder without someone by their side. Unfortunately, many older Americans aren't able to rely on their adult children for help. The reality in today's world is that family members do not have the skills or time to dedicate to caring for their parents. That's where Always Best Care Senior Services comes in.
Our in-home care services are for people who prefer to stay at home as they grow older but need ongoing care that family or friends cannot provide. More and more older adults prefer to live far away from long-term, institutionalized facilities and closer to the place where they feel most comfortable - their home. Home care in Carbon, IN is a safe, effective way to give your loved ones the care they need when they need it the most.
Home Care Services
Service AreasSince 1996, Always Best Care has provided non-medical in-home care for seniors to help them maintain a healthy lifestyle as they get older. We are proud to have helped more than 25,000 seniors maintain higher levels of dignity and respect. We focus on providing seniors with the highest level of in-home care available so that they may live happily and independently.
Unlike some senior care companies, we genuinely want to be included in our clients' lives. We believe that personalized care is always the better option over a "one size fits all" approach. To make sure our senior clients receive the best care possible, we pair them with compassionate caregivers who understand their unique needs. That way, they may provide care accordingly without compromising their wellbeing.
The Always Best Care difference lies in life's little moments - where compassionate care and trustworthy experience come together to help seniors live a fruitful, healthy life. Whether you are an aging adult that can't quite keep up with life's daily tasks or the child of a senior who needs regular in-home services, Always Best Care is here to help.
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“best people at there”
“Great staff!! Caring people!”
“I think it’s one of the best companies there’s always someone ready and willing to go help people with great attitudes! Anyone that wants to live at home but needs a little extra help should definitely get someone from this company at your home to help out!”
“Working for Always Best Care has been very rewarding for me to help others in need. Whatever my questions may be or any help I need as a health care provider for my client they have always came through with help.”
“Very compassionate caregivers!”
“Great staff. Well trained and kind people.”
“The Beache’s Family are great people and I would trust my mom’s well- bean in their hands”
“Natalia has experience taking care of people with Alzheimer and I would be very trust my dad’s safety if they taking care of him.”
“They offer a wide range of services with professional, organized individuals willing to help care for members of your family.”
“Exceptional staff and very caring. I know my loved ones are taken care of which gives me a peace of mind. Definitely recommend!”
“Mr. and Mrs. Beach are the owners of this location, and they are some of the most caring and dedicated people I have ever met. They truly want to help people get the best care for their loved ones. My grandmother would have loved to have care like this.”
Home is where the heart is. While that saying can sound a tad cliche, it is especially true for many seniors living in America. When given a choice, older adults most often prefer to grow older at home. An AARP study found that three out of four adults over the age of 50 want to stay in their homes and communities as they age.
When you begin to think about why, it makes sense. Home offers a sense of security, comfort, and familiarity.
The truth is, as we age, we begin to rely on others for help. When a family is too busy or lives too far away to fulfill this role, in-home senior care is often the best solution. Home care services allow seniors to enjoy personal independence while also receiving trustworthy assistance from a trained caregiver.
At Always Best Care, we offer a comprehensive range of home care services to help seniors stay healthy while they get the help they need to remain independent. As your senior loved one gets older, giving them the gift of senior care is one of the best ways to show your love, even if you live far away.
To give our senior clients the best care possible, we offer a full spectrum of in-home care services:
If your senior loved one has specific care needs, our personal care services are a great choice to consider. Personal care includes the standard caregiving duties associated with companion care and includes help with tasks such as dressing and grooming. Personal care can also help individuals with chronic conditions like diabetes.
Common personal care services include assistance with:
Sometimes, seniors need helpful reminders to maintain a high quality of life at home. If you or your senior has trouble with everyday tasks like cooking, our home helper services will be very beneficial.
Common home helper care services include assistance with:
Using this kind of care is a fantastic way to make life easier for you or your senior loved one. At Always Best Care, our talented caregivers often fill the role of a companion for seniors. That way, older adults can enjoy their favorite local activities, such as visiting Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Carbon, IN with friends while also receiving the care they need daily or weekly.
Common companionship services include:
According to AARP, more than 53 million adults living in the U.S. provide care to someone over 50 years old. Unfortunately, these caregivers experience stress, exhaustion, and even depression. Our respite care services help family caregivers address urgent obligations, spend time with their children, and enjoy nearby activities. Perhaps more importantly, respite care gives family members time to recharge and regroup. Taking personal time to de-stress reduces the risk of caregiver burnout. So, if you've always wanted to eat at the local Aberdeen Social House or visit Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site, don't feel bad. Doing so is great for both you and your loved one.
At the end of the day, our goal is to become a valuable part of your senior's daily routine. That way, we may help give them the highest quality of life possible. We know that staying at home is important for your loved one, and we are here to help make sure that is possible.
If you have been on the fence about non-medical home care, there has never been a better time than now to give your senior the care, assistance, and companionship they deserve.
Always Best Care in-home services are for older adults who prefer to stay at home but need ongoing care that friends and family cannot provide. In-home care is a safe, effective way for seniors to age gracefully in a familiar place and live independent, non-institutionalized lives. The benefits of non-medical home care are numerous. Here are just a few reasons to consider senior care services from Always Best Care:
According to AARP, 9 out of 10 seniors prefer to age in place within the comfort of their own home. With in-home care, seniors have a way to stay at home, receive the care they need, and maintain a sense of independence, improving overall wellness.
If you or a member of your family have assumed the role of caregiver for your senior loved one, you know how stressful the job can be. Between caregiver burnout and constant worry, being a family caregiver is hard. In-home care relieves your burden and gives you peace of mind knowing that your older family member is in expert hands.
Unlike nursing homes, where the staff and residents rotate frequently, seniors can foster new friendships and build bonds with their caregiver. Seniors who socialize on a regular basis are often happier, which fosters positivity and leads to increased wellbeing.
No two seniors need the same kind of in-home care assistance. That is why each of our Care Plans is tailored to meet our client's individual needs. We offer plans that cover everything from light housekeeping to more involved duties like transportation to doctor's appointments. Our Care Coordinators will work closely with you to develop a personalized plan to ensure your senior's needs are exceeded.
Always Best Care offers a full array of care options for patients at all levels of health. With our trusted elderly care services, your loved one will receive the level of care necessary for them to enjoy the highest possible quality of life.
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While it's true that some seniors have complicated medical needs that prevent them from staying at home, aging in place is often the best arrangement for seniors and their families. With a trusted caregiver, seniors have the opportunity to live with a sense of dignity and do so as they see fit - something that is unavailable to many older people today.
In-home care makes it possible for millions of seniors to age in place every year. Rather than moving to a strange nursing home, seniors have the chance to stay at home where they feel the happiest and most comfortable.
How much does a senior's home truly mean to them?
A study published by the American Society on Aging found that more than half of seniors say their home's emotional value means more than how much their home is worth in monetary value. It stands to reason, then, that a senior's home is where they want to grow old.
With the help of elderly care in Carbon, IN, seniors don't have to age in a sterilized care facility. Instead, they can age gracefully in the place they want to be most: their home. In contrast, seniors who move to a long-term care facility must adapt to new environments, new people, and new systems that the facility implements. At this stage in life, this kind of drastic change can be more harmful than helpful.
Institutional care facilities like nursing homes often put large groups of people together to live in one location. On any given day, dozens of staff members and caregivers run in and out of these facilities. Being around so many new people in a relatively small living environment can be dangerous for a seniors' health and wellbeing. When you consider that thousands of seniors passed away in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, opting for in-home care is often a safer, healthier choice for seniors.
Aging in place has been shown to improve seniors' quality of life, which helps boost physical health and also helps insulate them from viral and bacterial risks found in elderly living facilities.
For many seniors, the ability to live independently with assistance from a caregiver is a priceless option. With in-home care, seniors experience a higher level of independence and freedom - much more so than in other settings like a nursing home. When a senior has the chance to age in place, they get to live life on their own terms, inside the house that they helped make into a home. More independence means more control over their personal lives, too, which leads to increased levels of fulfillment, happiness, and personal gratification. Over time, these positive feelings can manifest into a healthier, longer life.
More independence, a healthier life, and increased comfort are only a few benefits of aging in place. You have to take into consideration the role of cost and convenience. Simply put, it's usually easier and more affordable to help seniors age in place than it is to move them into an institutional care facility. According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, seniors who age in the comfort of their homes can save thousands of dollars per month.
In-home care services from Always Best Care, for instance, are often less expensive than long-term solutions, which can cost upwards of six figures per year. To make matters worse, many residential care facilities are reluctant to accept long-term care insurance and other types of payment assistance.
With Always Best Care's home care services, seniors and their families have a greater level of control over their care plans. In-home care gives seniors the chance to form a bond with a trusted caregiver and also receive unmatched care that is catered to their needs. In long-term care facilities, seniors and their loved ones have much less control over their care plan and have less of a say in who provides their care.
In-home care is a valuable resource that empowers seniors to age in place on their own terms. However, a big concern for many families and their loved ones is how much in-home care costs. If you're worried that in-home care is too expensive, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that it is one of the most affordable senior care arrangements available.
Typically, hiring an Always Best Care in-home caregiver for a few hours a week is more affordable than sending your loved one to a long-term care facility. This is true even for seniors with more complex care needs.
At Always Best Care, we will work closely with you and your family to develop a Care Plan that not only meets your care needs, but your budget requirements, too. Once we discover the level of care that you or your senior need, we develop an in-home care plan that you can afford.
In addition to our flexible care options, families should also consider the following resources to help offset potential home care costs:
When you or your senior loved one needs assistance managing daily tasks at home, finding a qualified caregiver can be challenging. It takes a special kind of person to provide reliable care for your senior loved one. However, a caregiver's role involves more than meal preparation and medication reminders. Many seniors rely on their caregivers for companionship, too.
Our companion care services give seniors the chance to socialize in a safe environment and engage in activities at home. These important efforts boost morale and provide much-needed relief from repetitive daily routines. A one-on-one, engaging conversation can sharpen seniors' minds and give them something in which to be excited.
At Always Best Care, we only hire care providers that we would trust to care for our own loved ones. Our senior caregivers in Carbon, IN understand how important it is to listen and communicate with their seniors. A seemingly small interaction, like a short hug goodbye, can make a major difference in a senior's day. Instead of battling against feelings of isolation, seniors begin to look forward to seeing their caregiver each week.
Understanding the nuances of senior care is just one of the reasons why our care providers are so great at their job.
Unlike some senior care companies, our caregivers must undergo extensive training before they work for Always Best Care. In addition, our caregivers receive ongoing training throughout the year. This training ensures that their standard of care matches up to the high standards we've come to expect. During this training, they will brush up on their communication skills, safety awareness, and symptom spotting. That way, your loved one receives the highest level of non-medical home care from day one.
While it's true that many seniors prefer to age at home, sometimes in-home care isn't the best fit. For those seniors and their families, choosing an assisted living facility makes more sense. Unfortunately, finding the optimal care facility is easier said than done in today's day and age. That's when Always Best Care's assisted living referral services begin to make a lot of sense.
Assisted living is a form of housing intended for seniors who require varying degrees of medical and personal attention. Accommodations may include single rooms, apartments, or shared living arrangements. Assisted living communities are typically designed to resemble a home-like environment and are physically constructed to encourage the independence of residents.
At assisted living communities, seniors receive help with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, and eating. They may also benefit from coordination of services with outside healthcare providers, and monitoring of resident activities to ensure their health, safety, and well-being. Caregivers who work at assisted living communities can also provide medication administration and personal care services for older adults.
Other services offered within assisted living communities can include some or all of the following:
At Always Best Care, our representatives can match your senior's emotional, physical, and financial needs with viable assisted living communities nearby. Results are based on comparative data, so you can select the best choice for you or your loved one.
Always Best Care works closely with local senior living communities to gain valuable knowledge that we then use to help seniors and their loved ones make informed decisions. This information can include basic care and rent, resident availability, and services provided. Because Always Best Care is compensated by these communities, we provide senior living referral services at no extra cost to you.
Some of the most popular assisted living communities to consider in our area include the following:
For many seniors, moving into a senior living community revolves around how and when they want to make a transition to more involved care. Some seniors are more proactive about transitioning to independent living. Others choose to remain home until their care needs or other requirements are satisfied. Remember - our staff is here to help. Contact our office today to learn more about assisted living communities and how we can find a facility that exceeds your expectations.
The first step in getting quality in-home care starts with a personal consultation with an experienced Always Best Care Care Coordinator. This initial consultation is crucial for our team to learn more about you or your elderly loved one to discover the level of care required. Topics of this consultation typically include:
A discussion of your needs and how our trained caregivers can offer assistance in the most effective way
A draft of your care plan, which includes highly detailed notes and a framework for the care that you or your senior will receive
Discuss payment options and help coordinate billing with your insurance provider
Our caregivers are trained to spot changes that clients exhibit, like mental and physical decline. As your trusted senior care company, we will constantly assess and update your Care Plan to meet any new emotional, intellectual, physical, and emotional needs.
If you have never considered in-home care before, we understand that you and your family may have concerns about your Care Plan and its Care Coordinator. To help give you peace of mind, know that every team member and caregiver must undergo comprehensive training before being assigned to a Care Plan.
At the end of the day, we only hire the best of the best at Always Best Care. Whether you need home care in Carbon, IN 24-hours a day or only need a respite for a couple of hours, we are here to serve you.
When you're ready, we encourage you to contact your local Always Best Care representative to set up a Care Consultation. Our Care Coordinators would be happy to meet with you in person to get to know you better, discuss your needs, and help put together a personalized Care Plan specific to your needs.
Executive thesis. Transportation carbon is moving upstream from disclosure into planning. Once emissions can be estimated with sufficient consistency, carbon becomes another constraint to evaluate alongside cost, service, capacity, and risk.Transportation carbon is moving upstreamHistorically, transportation emissions were often calculated after execution for reporting purposes. That is changing as organizations gain better shipment-level data and as sustainability objectives become more closely connected to ...
Executive thesis. Transportation carbon is moving upstream from disclosure into planning. Once emissions can be estimated with sufficient consistency, carbon becomes another constraint to evaluate alongside cost, service, capacity, and risk.
Historically, transportation emissions were often calculated after execution for reporting purposes. That is changing as organizations gain better shipment-level data and as sustainability objectives become more closely connected to operating decisions. Carbon can be considered before the load moves, alongside cost, service, capacity, and risk.
Mode, distance, equipment, utilization, empty miles, consolidation, routing, fuel, energy source, and carrier performance all influence transportation emissions. Those are also variables that transportation teams already manage for economic and service reasons. The opportunity is to incorporate emissions into the same decision environment rather than treat carbon as a separate reporting workflow.
Comparing alternatives requires consistent methods and defensible activity data. Carrier-provided values, standard factors, modeled estimates, and primary fuel or energy data may all have roles, but the system should preserve the method and confidence behind the result. Otherwise the organization risks optimizing against numbers that are not comparable.
The lowest-emissions option may not always satisfy service, cost, capacity, or operational constraints. That is precisely why carbon belongs inside the planning decision. Leaders need to see the tradeoff explicitly and decide where emissions should act as a target, a constraint, or one weighted objective among several.
The strongest transportation-emissions programs connect measurement to action: improve trailer or container utilization, reduce empty miles, change mode where feasible, select lower-emission equipment or fuels, redesign routes, adjust delivery frequency, or work with carriers on specific lanes. Measurement becomes valuable when it changes the transportation plan.
The Logistics Viewpoints Transportation Emissions Management: Technology, Data, and Measurement guide connects shipment-level carbon measurement to TMS planning, mode, utilization, empty miles, fuels, EVs, carrier data, and operational reduction levers.
The objective is not measurement for its own sake; it is to expose operational tradeoffs early enough for mode, routing, utilization, equipment, and carrier choices to change the outcome.
Go deeper: provides the durable buyer, architecture, and implementation reference for this topic. Sustainability & ESG connects this analysis to the broader Logistics Viewpoints research architecture.
Seagrass meadows have earned a reputation as some of the planet’s most efficient carbon sinks, locking away organic carbon in their sediments for centuries. But a new year-long study of a tropical meadow in southern Taiwan shows that these underwater grasslands also harbor a hidden cost: they are persistent, localized sources of methane, a greenhouse gas roughly 96 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year horizon. The research, published in Biogeosciences, is the first integrated assessment of methane cycling in th...
Seagrass meadows have earned a reputation as some of the planet’s most efficient carbon sinks, locking away organic carbon in their sediments for centuries. But a new year-long study of a tropical meadow in southern Taiwan shows that these underwater grasslands also harbor a hidden cost: they are persistent, localized sources of methane, a greenhouse gas roughly 96 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year horizon. The research, published in Biogeosciences, is the first integrated assessment of methane cycling in the Haikou seagrass meadow in Pingtung County, and it reveals a striking mismatch between how much methane the seabed produces and how much actually reaches the atmosphere.
A team led by Hsiao-Chun Tseng of National Taiwan Ocean University conducted three intensive field campaigns between May 2022 and June 2023 in a subtidal meadow dominated by the seagrasses Thalassia hemprichii and Halophila pinifolia. The site covers roughly 4.38 hectares of shallow water, between 0.5 and 1.5 meters deep, bordered seaward by a reef platform beyond which the seafloor drops to about 10 meters. Because winter weather made fieldwork impossible, the campaigns captured spring, summer, and autumn conditions, combining surface water sampling, in situ benthic chamber incubations, and porewater profiling at sediment depths down to 20 centimeters.
The measurements confirmed that the meadow behaves as a methane hotspot relative to its surroundings. Dissolved methane concentrations in the seagrass meadow ranged from 6.6 to 13.1 nanomolar, consistently exceeding the 4.2 to 7.4 nanomolar observed in the deeper adjacent coastal waters. Mean sea-to-air methane fluxes were 4.9 plus or minus 2.2 micromoles per square meter per day in the meadow, nearly double the 2.7 micromoles per square meter per day measured offshore. The shallow water column, the authors argue, allows methane seeping from the sediment to influence surface waters far more directly than at the deeper coastal site.
The diurnal rhythm of these concentrations tells a story about oxygen. During the day, seagrass photosynthesis pushes dissolved oxygen saturation above 100 percent, sometimes reaching 124 percent, which appears to suppress methane accumulation and promote microbial oxidation of the gas. At night, oxygen saturation falls to roughly 87 to 95 percent, oxidation potential drops, and sediment-derived methane builds up in the water column. Nighttime dissolved methane concentrations generally exceeded daytime values in spring and summer. The one exception came in autumn 2022, when a nighttime storm with heavy rain and strong winds churned the shallow water, enhanced gas exchange, and physically stripped methane out of the surface layer faster than it could accumulate.
Seasonal patterns in atmospheric emissions, by contrast, were governed less by biology than by physics. Because dissolved methane concentrations showed no significant seasonal differences, the researchers attribute the variability in sea-to-air fluxes primarily to wind speed, which controls the gas transfer coefficient in their flux calculations. Fluxes peaked in autumn 2022 at 6.8 micromoles per square meter per day in the meadow, when mean wind speeds ranged up to 5.4 meters per second, and fell to a low of 2.5 micromoles per square meter per day in the calm summer of 2023. In other words, the same meadow can vent very different amounts of methane to the sky depending on how hard the wind blows.
Below the surface, the story was one of steady production. Benthic chambers, transparent cylinders 40 centimeters tall and 32 centimeters in diameter inserted 10 to 15 centimeters into the sediment, captured methane diffusing out of the seabed under natural light and flow conditions. Mean sediment-to-water fluxes in the seagrass meadow averaged 88.2 plus or minus 41.2 micromoles per square meter per day, with production rates climbing from about 103 micromoles per cubic meter per day in spring to 295 in summer. The likely driver is organic matter: strong winds and waves from October through April scour the meadow and limit the deposition of organic particles, while calmer conditions from late spring onward allow seagrass detritus and other labile carbon to accumulate, fueling methanogenic microbes. Porewater methane profiles mirrored this pattern, with the highest concentrations, up to 423.2 nanomolar, recorded in autumn, mostly within the upper 12 centimeters of sediment.
The comparison with adjacent bare sand proved especially revealing. In spring and summer, seagrass sediments consistently out-produced the unvegetated sediments, thanks to richer organic inputs, denser communities of methanogenic archaea, and reduced oxygen penetration in the rhizosphere. But autumn flipped the script: storm-disturbed bare sand released a massive pulse of methane, with fluxes spiking to 388.9 plus or minus 382.8 micromoles per square meter per day, far above the meadow’s values. The seagrasses’ dense root and rhizome networks stabilize their sediments and buffer them against physical disturbance, so the vegetated habitat maintained steady baseline emissions while the sandy habitat stayed quiet until a storm violently resuspended its porewater. As climate change intensifies typhoons, the authors note, such episodic pulses from unvegetated coastal sediments may grow more important in regional greenhouse gas budgets.
Perhaps the study’s most consequential finding is the dramatic decoupling between what the seabed produces and what the atmosphere receives. Using the meadow’s area and an average water depth of one meter, the team estimated that sediments released roughly 162, 465, and 415 moles of methane into the overlying water in spring, summer, and autumn respectively, yet only 21, 10, and 27 moles escaped to the air during the same periods. That means approximately 87 to 98 percent of the sediment-derived methane never reached the atmosphere directly. Most of it was likely swept laterally out of the meadow by tidal exchange and coastal circulation before it could degas, with microbial oxidation in the sediment and water column removing an additional share. The small standing stock of dissolved methane in the water column, just 0.33 to 0.43 moles despite substantial benthic inputs, further points to rapid turnover and efficient redistribution.
Placed in a global context, the Haikou fluxes sit at the low end of the seagrass spectrum. The global mean sea-to-air methane flux for seagrass ecosystems is about 79 micromoles per square meter per day, more than an order of magnitude above the values measured here, and emissions from lagoons and salt marshes rich in methylated compounds tend to be far higher still. The Taiwan fluxes were comparable to those reported from seagrass meadows in Thailand and China, but well below those of India’s Chilika Lagoon or organic-rich Caribbean sediments. The authors caution that their figures represent seasonal baselines rather than annual budgets, since winter sampling was impossible and the autumn campaign was strongly influenced by an extreme storm.
The broader message is one for anyone counting on blue carbon to fight climate change. Seagrass restoration and conservation remain powerful climate strategies, but methane emissions can offset up to a third of the carbon these ecosystems sequester in some settings, and the balance varies with species, sediment chemistry, hydrodynamics, and storm exposure. Evaluating the true climate benefit of a meadow, the study concludes, requires accounting for both sides of the ledger: the carbon buried in the seabed and the methane leaking out of it, along with the tides, winds, and microbes that decide how much of that methane ever reaches the sky.
Subject of Research: Seasonal methane production, transport, and sea-to-air emissions in a tropical seagrass meadow in Taiwan
Article Title: Linking sea–air and benthic methane fluxes across seasons in a tropical seagrass meadow of Taiwan
Article References: Tseng, H.-C., Gaol, A. S. M. L., Lin, F.-H., Chen, J.-J., & Chou, W.-C. (2026). Linking sea–air and benthic methane fluxes across seasons in a tropical seagrass meadow of Taiwan. Biogeosciences, 23(20), 7309-7325. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7309-2026
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.5194/bg-23-7309-2026
Keywords: seagrass, methane, blue carbon, biogeosciences, Taiwan, methanogenesis, benthic flux, greenhouse gas, coastal ecosystems, porewater, storm disturbance, carbon sequestration
News Source: Drew Townsend. (October 19, 2026). Tropical Seagrass Meadows Bury Carbon but Quietly Leak Methane, Study Finds. Scienmag.
Tiny photosynthetic organisms in the Baltic Sea can contribute substantially to the transport of carbon from surface waters to deeper parts of the sea. A new study from the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences at Stockholm University shows that their ability to form colonies and aggregates is an important factor determining how much of their biomass sinks."In this study, we have shown that in situ aggregation properties vary among picocyanobacterial strains and that the degree of aggregation directly deter...
Tiny photosynthetic organisms in the Baltic Sea can contribute substantially to the transport of carbon from surface waters to deeper parts of the sea. A new study from the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences at Stockholm University shows that their ability to form colonies and aggregates is an important factor determining how much of their biomass sinks.
"In this study, we have shown that in situ aggregation properties vary among picocyanobacterial strains and that the degree of aggregation directly determines the magnitude of export. Given that picophytoplankton are expected to increase in abundance in a warmer and more nutrient-poor (stratified) ocean, understanding mechanisms allowing their biomass to be exported to the deep ocean is important for predicting future atmospheric CO2 levels," says lead author Martin Ekman, a former researcher at the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences at Stockholm University (at the time of the study).
The work is published in The ISME Journal.
Phytoplankton play a central role in the ocean's carbon cycle by taking up carbon dioxide (CO2) through photosynthesis—approximately half of global photosynthesis is attributed to phytoplankton. When this biomass sinks from surface waters toward the depths below, carbon is transported with it.
This process, known as the biological pump, is an important part of the global carbon cycle and has a major role in regulating atmospheric CO2 levels. In addition, remineralization of sinking phytoplankton is the direct cause of anoxic bottom waters in coastal seas such as the Baltic Sea.
Among the smallest but also most common phytoplankton are picocyanobacteria, which are less than 2 micrometers in size (one millionth of a meter, 10-6 m). Because individual cells are so small, they are not expected to sink efficiently on their own.
Previous research has shown that these organisms can make a significant contribution to carbon export, but the mechanism by which the biomass of these tiny organisms is exported has remained unknown.
In collaboration with the Marine Ecological Lab (MEL), the researchers measured abundances of picocyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea during spring and summer, sampling surface waters as well as water at depths of 25 meters (82 feet) and 75 meters (246 feet). Additionally, they took samples using sediment traps, which were moored below the sunlit surface zone to collect sinking particulates.
They combined microscopy and flow cytometry with genetic analyses of water samples and material collected in sediment traps.
Key to their study was the sampling strategy of separating the particulates in the water samples by size fractionation. Larger cells (>10 µm, large fraction) were collected on the first filter, while the small cells passed through and were collected on a second in-line filter (0.2 µm, free fraction). Both fractions were prepared for sequencing.
They found that picocyanobacteria made up a large proportion of the phytoplankton community and that their contribution to exported biomass was broadly proportional to their abundance in surface waters. But the researchers also found clear differences between strains of the picocyanobacterium Synechococcus.
Some strains were more frequently found in the larger fraction and in material collected by the sediment traps, indicating that they were more prone to form colonies or aggregates and subsequently sink. A strong relationship between aggregation and sedimentation suggests that the tendency to form larger colonies or aggregates directly determines how much of a particular strain is exported from surface waters.
The study also found seasonal differences between colony-forming and predominantly single-cell strains. This suggests that the ability to aggregate may be an important ecological trait, potentially affecting how different strains respond to changing environmental conditions.
The researchers point out that picophytoplankton are expected to become more abundant in warmer, more strongly stratified and nutrient-poor oceans, conditions predicted for future oceans. Understanding how their biomass is exported is therefore important for predicting how marine carbon cycling may change in the coming years.
The study was carried out at Landsort Deep in the Baltic Sea, where long-term monitoring has provided more than 30 years of observations. The researchers suggest that similar aggregation processes should be investigated in other regions where picophytoplankton are abundant, including the open ocean.
"An important part of the work was the opportunity to find consistency in our results with the long-term trends from the monitoring data of the MEL. These data sets are such an invaluable resource, especially in the context of climate change. We are excited to look to new regions of the ocean for similar trends," says co-author Rachel Foster, professor of microbial oceanography at the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences and a researcher at the Bolin Centre for Climate Research at Stockholm University.
Martin Ekman et al, Differential aggregation properties among Baltic Sea picocyanobacterial strains impact their export, The ISME Journal (2026). DOI: 10.1093/ismejo/wrag214
New Audubon publication examines which grassland management practices can deliver multiple benefits.When I visited Oxbow Cattle Company in Montana last spring, I saw firsthand how land management practices can support healthy grasslands and productive working lands. Owners Bart and Wendy Morris and their team are helping regenerate creeks and riparian areas, supporting soil carbon storage and nutrient cycling, and reestablishing native plants and insects like dung beetles. Certified as bird-friendly land through the Audubon Conservati...
New Audubon publication examines which grassland management practices can deliver multiple benefits.
When I visited Oxbow Cattle Company in Montana last spring, I saw firsthand how land management practices can support healthy grasslands and productive working lands. Owners Bart and Wendy Morris and their team are helping regenerate creeks and riparian areas, supporting soil carbon storage and nutrient cycling, and reestablishing native plants and insects like dung beetles. Certified as bird-friendly land through the Audubon Conservation Ranching program, the ranch also provides habitat for birds, including the Bald Eagles that we saw flying overhead.
Oxbow Cattle Company is one example of how healthy grasslands can provide critical bird habitat, store carbon, and deliver other benefits, including improved water quality, soil health, resilience, and agricultural productivity. Audubon works to ensure that grasslands and other key ecosystems are managed in ways that protect and enhance nature’s capacity to store carbon and reduce emissions. These conservation actions, known as natural climate solutions, are essential to addressing both climate change and biodiversity loss.
Audubon has already identified where to act. Our 2021 identified priority places for protection, improved management, and restoration. Subsequent research published in Scientific Reports identified places where conservation could benefit birds, carbon, and communities. Our new brief, , builds on that foundation by evaluating common grassland management practices and the evidence for their outcomes.
The brief examines eight practices for their effects on grassland birds, carbon storage and sequestration, and environmental and social co-benefits. Four practices emerge as the most reliable “triple wins”: adaptive grazing, protecting wetlands from grazing, controlling invasive plant species, and planting native species. These practices show consistent evidence of benefits for birds, carbon, and broader grassland resilience.
That said, there is no one-size-fits-all prescription for grasslands. Outcomes, particularly for grassland birds, depend on the species, landscape, timing, intensity, and other local conditions. The brief is a synthesis of the evidence, not a prescriptive playbook, and should be paired with local knowledge, ecological conditions, monitoring, and land manager goals. Adaptive management and monitoring are essential parts of implementation.
This work is important for grasslands, where there is an urgent need to put science into practice. Grassland birds like the Western Meadowlark are experiencing the steepest decline of any U.S. avian group, driven largely by habitat loss, degradation, and climate change. Better understanding how management affects both birds and carbon can support more intentional, outcome-oriented conservation across Central and Western U.S. grasslands and rangelands.
For Audubon, this brief provides a science-based framework for connecting bird conservation, climate, policy, and working lands efforts. Many of the practices evaluated align with Audubon Conservation Ranching and its approach to enhancing grassland ecosystems while supporting agricultural productivity through the Bird-Friendly Land Certification.
We also hope conservation practitioners and land stewards find this resource useful for adaptive management strategies, habitat management plans, regional roadmaps, and conversations with producers. Policymakers, funders, and conservation investors can use the findings to help direct public and private resources toward practices with strong evidence of multiple benefits, while retaining flexibility for local conditions and supporting producer-led solutions, monitoring, technical assistance, and research.
Additional briefs will build on this work by evaluating management practices across different ecosystems like forests and coasts. By connecting climate science with management outcomes, we can work together to support approaches that most reliably deliver climate, biodiversity, and community benefits.
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