The importance of coastal gorgonians in the blue carbon budget
Coppari, Martina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Zanella, Chiara (Institut de Ciències del Mar)
Rossi, Sergio (Rossi Heras) (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2019
Abstract:	Terrestrial (trees, shrubs) and marine (seaweeds and seagrasses) organisms act as carbon (C) sinks, but the role of benthic suspension feeders in this regard has been largely neglected so far. Gorgonians are one of the most conspicuous inhabitants of marine animal forests (mainly composed of sessile filter feeders); their seston capture rates influence benthic-pelagic coupling processes and they act as C sinks immobilizing carbon in their long-living structures. Three gorgonian species (Paramuricea clavata, Eunicella singularis and Leptogorgia sarmentosa) were studied coupling data of population size structure, biomass and spatial distribution in a NW Mediterranean area (Cap de Creus, Spain) with feeding, respiration and growth rates. In the study area, we calculated that P. clavata sequestered 0. 73 ± 0. 71 g C m year, E. singularis 0. 73 ± 0. 89 g C m year and L. sarmentosa 0. 03 ± 0. 02 g C m year. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to calculate the importance as C sinks of gorgonian species that we consider as a starting point to estimate the importance of marine animal forests in C sequestration, and to ensure appropriate management and protection especially in areas and at depths where they are concentrated.
Grants:	European Commission 327845 European Commission 665919 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2012/FI_B00752 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-1588 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MDM2015-0552
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Community ecology ; Ecosystem ecology
Published in:	Scientific reports, Vol. 9 (September 2019) , art. 13550, ISSN 2045-2322

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-49797-4
PMID: 31537839

12 p, 1.5 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles