Pubblicazione scientifica

Sequestration of macroalgal carbon: the elephant in the Blue Carbon room

FILONE TECNOLOGICO	TEMA
produzione e raccolta

RIASSUNTO

Macroalgae form the most extensive and productive benthic marine vegetated habitats globally but their inclusion in Blue Carbon (BC) strategies remains controversial. We review the arguments offered to reject or include macroalgae in the BC framework, and identify the challenges that have precluded macroalgae from being incorporated so far. Evidence that macroalgae support significant carbon burial is compelling. The carbon they supply to sediment stocks in angiosperm BC habitats is already included in current assessments, so that macroalgae are de facto recognized as important donors of BC. The key challenges are (i) documenting macroalgal carbon sequestered beyond BC habitat, (ii) tracing it back to source habitats, and (iii) showing that management actions at the habitat lead to increased sequestration at the sink site. These challenges apply equally to carbon exported from BC coastal habitats. Because of the large carbon sink they support, incorporation of macroalgae into BC accounting and actions is an imperative. This requires a paradigm shift in accounting procedures as well as developing methods to enable the capacity to trace carbon from donor to sink habitats in the ocean.

DATA

Data di pubblicazione: 01/06/2018

AUTORI

KRAUSE-JENSEN DORTE
LAVERY PAUL
SERRANO OSCAR
MARBA NURIA
MASQUE PERE
DUARTE CARLOS M

ENTE DI AFFERENZA

DEPT BIOSCIENCE AARHUS UNIV
ARCTIC RSCH CTR AARHUS UNIV NY MUNKEGADE 114 DK 8000 ARHUS C DENMARK
SCHOOL OF SCIENCE CTR MARINE ECOSYSTEMS RSCH EDITH COWAN UNIV JOONDALUP WESTERN AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA
GLOBAL CHANGE RSCH GROUP IMEDEA CSIC UIB ESPORLES ILLES BALEARS SPAIN
DEPT FISICA & INST CIENCIA I TECNOLOGIA AMBIENTALS UNIV AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA 08193 BELLATERRA SPAIN
OCEANS INST & SCHOOL OF PHYSICS UNIV WESTERN AUSTRALIA CRAWLEY WESTERN AUSTRALIA 6009 AUSTRALIA
KING ABDULLAH UNIV SCIENCE & TECH KAUST RED SEA RSCH CTR RSRC THUWAL 23955 6900 KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

RIVISTA

Biology Letters, 14(6), 20180236

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