IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcli/v8y2018i4d10.1038_s41558-018-0096-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • A. Arias-Ortiz

    (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

  • O. Serrano

    (Edith Cowan University
    The University of Western Australia)

  • P. Masqué

    (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
    Edith Cowan University
    The University of Western Australia)

  • P. S. Lavery

    (Edith Cowan University
    Centre of Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC))

  • U. Mueller

    (Edith Cowan University)

  • G. A. Kendrick

    (The University of Western Australia
    The University of Western Australia)

  • M. Rozaimi

    (Edith Cowan University
    Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM Bangi)

  • A. Esteban

    (Edith Cowan University)

  • J. W. Fourqurean

    (The University of Western Australia
    Florida International University)

  • N. Marbà

    (IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB) Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats)

  • M. A. Mateo

    (Edith Cowan University
    Centre of Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC))

  • K. Murray

    (Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions)

  • M. J. Rule

    (The University of Western Australia
    Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions)

  • C. M. Duarte

    (IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB) Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats
    King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • 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, 2018. "A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world’s largest seagrass carbon stocks," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(4), pages 338-344, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:8:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1038_s41558-018-0096-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-018-0096-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0096-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41558-018-0096-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ying Zhang & Yan Du & Ming Feng & Alistair J. Hobday, 2023. "Vertical structures of marine heatwaves," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Kathryn E. Smith & Margot Aubin & Michael T. Burrows & Karen Filbee-Dexter & Alistair J. Hobday & Neil J. Holbrook & Nathan G. King & Pippa J. Moore & Alex Sen Gupta & Mads Thomsen & Thomas Wernberg &, 2024. "Global impacts of marine heatwaves on coastal foundation species," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:8:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1038_s41558-018-0096-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.