Impact of mooring activities on carbon stocks in seagrass meadows
Serrano, Oscar (Edith Cowan University. Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research)
Ruhon, Radhiyah (The University of Western Australia. School of Plant Biology)
Lavery, Paul S. (Edith Cowan University. Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research)
Kendrick, G. A.. (The University of Western Australia. UWA Oceans Institute)
Hickey, Scott (The Univesity of Western Australia. School of Earth and Environment)
Masqué Barri, Pere (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física)
Arias Ortiz, Ariane (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Steven, Andy (EcoSciences Precinct. Australia)
Duarte, Carlos M.. (King Abdullah University of Science and Technoloy. Arabia Saudi.)

Data:	2016
Resum:	Boating activities are one of the causes that threaten seagrass meadows and the ecosystem services they provide. Mechanical destruction of seagrass habitats may also trigger the erosion of sedimentary organic carbon (Corg) stocks, which may contribute to increasing atmospheric CO2. This study presents the first estimates of loss of Corg stocks in seagrass meadows due to mooring activities in Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Sediment cores were sampled from seagrass meadows and from bare but previously vegetated sediments underneath moorings. The Corg stores have been compromised by the mooring deployment from 1930s onwards, which involved both the erosion of existing sedimentary Corg stores and the lack of further accumulation of Corg. On average, undisturbed meadows had accumulated ~6. 4 Kg Corg m−2 in the upper 50 cm-thick deposits at a rate of 34 g Corg m−2 yr−1. The comparison of Corg stores between meadows and mooring scars allows us to estimate a loss of 4. 8 kg Corg m−2 in the 50 cm-thick deposits accumulated over ca. 200 yr as a result of mooring deployments. These results provide key data for the implementation of Corg storage credit offset policies to avoid the conversion of seagrass ecosystems and contribute to their preservation.
Ajuts:	Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-1356
Nota:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552
Drets:	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.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Publicat a:	Scientific reports, Vol. 6 (March 2016) , art. 23193, ISSN 2045-2322

DOI: 10.1038/srep23193
PMID: 26979407

10 p, 1.3 MB

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