A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world's largest seagrass carbon stocks

A. Arias-Ortiz; O. Serrano; P. Masqué; P. S. Lavery; U. Mueller; G. A. Kendrick; M. Rozaimi; A. Esteban; J. W. Fourqurean; N. Marbà; M. A. Mateo; K. Murray; M. J. Rule; C. M. Duarte

doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0096-y

A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world's largest seagrass carbon stocks

A. Arias-Ortiz^*, O. Serrano, P. Masqué, P. S. Lavery, U. Mueller, G. A. Kendrick, M. Rozaimi, A. Esteban, J. W. Fourqurean, N. Marbà, M. A. Mateo, K. Murray, M. J. Rule, C. M. Duarte

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

318 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Seagrass ecosystems contain globally significant organic carbon (C) stocks. However, climate change and increasing frequency of extreme events threaten their preservation. Shark Bay, Western Australia, has the largest C stock reported for a seagrass ecosystem, containing up to 1.3% of the total C stored within the top metre of seagrass sediments worldwide. On the basis of field studies and satellite imagery, we estimate that 36% of Shark Bay's seagrass meadows were damaged following a marine heatwave in 2010/2011. Assuming that 10 to 50% of the seagrass sediment C stock was exposed to oxic conditions after disturbance, between 2 and 9 Tg CO₂ could have been released to the atmosphere during the following three years, increasing emissions from land-use change in Australia by 4-21% per annum. With heatwaves predicted to increase with further climate warming, conservation of seagrass ecosystems is essential to avoid adverse feedbacks on the climate system.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	338-344
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Climate Change
Volume	8
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0096-y
Publication status	Published - 1 Apr 2018

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Arias-Ortiz, A., Serrano, O., Masqué, P., Lavery, P. S., Mueller, U., Kendrick, G. A., Rozaimi, M., Esteban, A., Fourqurean, J. W., Marbà, N., Mateo, M. A., Murray, K., Rule, M. J., & Duarte, C. M. (2018). A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world's largest seagrass carbon stocks. Nature Climate Change, 8(4), 338-344. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0096-y

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abstract = "Seagrass ecosystems contain globally significant organic carbon (C) stocks. However, climate change and increasing frequency of extreme events threaten their preservation. Shark Bay, Western Australia, has the largest C stock reported for a seagrass ecosystem, containing up to 1.3% of the total C stored within the top metre of seagrass sediments worldwide. On the basis of field studies and satellite imagery, we estimate that 36% of Shark Bay's seagrass meadows were damaged following a marine heatwave in 2010/2011. Assuming that 10 to 50% of the seagrass sediment C stock was exposed to oxic conditions after disturbance, between 2 and 9 Tg CO2 could have been released to the atmosphere during the following three years, increasing emissions from land-use change in Australia by 4-21% per annum. With heatwaves predicted to increase with further climate warming, conservation of seagrass ecosystems is essential to avoid adverse feedbacks on the climate system.",

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AU - Kendrick, G. A.

AU - Rozaimi, M.

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A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world's largest seagrass carbon stocks

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