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

Ariane Arias-Ortiz; Oscar Serrano; Pere 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; Carlos M. Duarte

doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0096-y

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

Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Oscar Serrano, Pere 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, Carlos M. Duarte

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

117 Scopus citations

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 CO 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 (US)
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
State	Published - Mar 19 2018

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https://repository.kaust.edu.sa/bitstream/10754/627404/1/ArianeSharkBay.pdf

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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

Arias-Ortiz, Ariane ; Serrano, Oscar ; Masqué, Pere ; 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, Carlos M. / A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world’s largest seagrass carbon stocks. In: Nature Climate Change. 2018 ; Vol. 8, No. 4. pp. 338-344.

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title = "A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world{\textquoteright}s largest seagrass carbon stocks",

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{\textquoteright}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 CO 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.",

author = "Ariane Arias-Ortiz and Oscar Serrano and Pere Masqu{\'e} and Lavery, {P. S.} and U. Mueller and Kendrick, {G. A.} and M. Rozaimi and A. Esteban and Fourqurean, {J. W.} and N. Marb{\`a} and Mateo, {M. A.} and K. Murray and Rule, {M. J.} and Duarte, {Carlos M.}",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-02-19 Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the CSIRO Flagship Marine and Coastal Carbon Biogeochemical Cluster with funding from the CSIRO Flagship Collaboration Fund and by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology through the baseline funding to C.M.D., P.M. and A.A.-O., and M.A.M. acknowledge the support by the Generalitat de Catalunya (grants 2014 SGR-1356 and 2014 SGR-120, respectively). This work is contributing to the ICTA `Unit of Excellence' (MinECo, MDM2015-0552) and is contribution no. 78 from the Marine Education and Research Center at the Institute for Water and Environment at Florida International University. A.A.-O. was supported by a PhD scholarship from Obra Social `LaCaixa'. O.S. was supported by an ARC DECRA DE170101524. M.R. was supported by the Research University grant UKM-DIP-2017-005. N.M. was supported by a Gledden Visiting Fellowship of IAS-UWA and the Medshift project (CGL2015-71809-P) and J.W.F. was supported by the US National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research programme (grant DEB-1237517). Partial laboratory analysis was supported by the Hodgkin Trust Top-up Scholarship 2013 awarded to M.R. We thank G. Bufarale and L. Collins for their assistance in collecting the cores and C. X. Pita, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), for the artwork in Fig. 2 and Supplementary Fig. 1. Seagrass spatial distribution in Fig. 1 from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions of Western Australia.",

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A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world’s largest seagrass carbon stocks. / Arias-Ortiz, Ariane; Serrano, Oscar; Masqué, Pere; 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, Carlos M.

In: Nature Climate Change, Vol. 8, No. 4, 19.03.2018, p. 338-344.

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

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AU - Masqué, Pere

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AU - Mueller, U.

AU - Kendrick, G. A.

AU - Rozaimi, M.

AU - Esteban, A.

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AU - Mateo, M. A.

AU - Murray, K.

AU - Rule, M. J.

AU - Duarte, Carlos M.

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-02-19 Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the CSIRO Flagship Marine and Coastal Carbon Biogeochemical Cluster with funding from the CSIRO Flagship Collaboration Fund and by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology through the baseline funding to C.M.D., P.M. and A.A.-O., and M.A.M. acknowledge the support by the Generalitat de Catalunya (grants 2014 SGR-1356 and 2014 SGR-120, respectively). This work is contributing to the ICTA `Unit of Excellence' (MinECo, MDM2015-0552) and is contribution no. 78 from the Marine Education and Research Center at the Institute for Water and Environment at Florida International University. A.A.-O. was supported by a PhD scholarship from Obra Social `LaCaixa'. O.S. was supported by an ARC DECRA DE170101524. M.R. was supported by the Research University grant UKM-DIP-2017-005. N.M. was supported by a Gledden Visiting Fellowship of IAS-UWA and the Medshift project (CGL2015-71809-P) and J.W.F. was supported by the US National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research programme (grant DEB-1237517). Partial laboratory analysis was supported by the Hodgkin Trust Top-up Scholarship 2013 awarded to M.R. We thank G. Bufarale and L. Collins for their assistance in collecting the cores and C. X. Pita, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), for the artwork in Fig. 2 and Supplementary Fig. 1. Seagrass spatial distribution in Fig. 1 from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions of Western Australia.

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N2 - 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 CO 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.

AB - 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 CO 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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A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world’s largest seagrass carbon stocks

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