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Tropical seagrass meadows modify seawater carbon chemistry: implications for coral reefs impacted by ocean acidification

Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo, Catherine J Collier, Gideon M Henderson, Len J McKenzie

Environmental Research Letters, Volume: 7, Issue: 2, Start page: 024026

Swansea University Author: Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024026

Abstract

Highly productive tropical seagrasses often live adjacent to or among coral reefs and utilize large amounts of inorganic carbon. In this study, the effect of seagrass productivity on seawater carbonate chemistry and coral calcification was modelled on the basis of an analysis of published data.Publi...

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Published in: Environmental Research Letters
ISSN: 1748-9326
Published: 2012
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa13108
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spelling 2014-10-08T12:53:25.6369985 v2 13108 2012-10-18 Tropical seagrass meadows modify seawater carbon chemistry: implications for coral reefs impacted by ocean acidification b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f 0000-0003-0036-9724 Richard Unsworth Richard Unsworth true false 2012-10-18 SBI Highly productive tropical seagrasses often live adjacent to or among coral reefs and utilize large amounts of inorganic carbon. In this study, the effect of seagrass productivity on seawater carbonate chemistry and coral calcification was modelled on the basis of an analysis of published data.Published data (11 studies, 64 records) reveal that seagrass meadows in the Indo-Pacific have an 83% chance of being net autotrophic, resulting in an average net sink of 155 gC m−2 yr−1. The capacities for seagrass productivity were analysed using an empirical model to examine the effect on seawater carbonate chemistry. Our analyses indicate that increases in pH of up to 0.38 units, and Ωarag increases of 2.9 are possible in the presence of seagrass meadows (compared to their absence) with the precise values of these increases dependent on water residence time (tidal flushing) and water depth. In shallow water reef environments, Scleractinian coral calcification downstream of seagrass has the potential to be ≈18% greater than in an environment without seagrass. If this potential benefit to reef calcifiers is supported by further study it offers a potential tool in marine park management at a local scale. The applicability of this will depend upon local physical conditions as well as the spatial configuration of habitats, and the factors that influence their productivity. This novel study suggests that, in addition to their importance to fisheries, sediment stabilization and primary production, seagrass meadows may enhance coral reef resilience to future ocean acidification. Journal Article Environmental Research Letters 7 2 024026 1748-9326 31 12 2012 2012-12-31 10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024026 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University 2014-10-08T12:53:25.6369985 2012-10-18T13:58:47.0722413 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Richard Unsworth 0000-0003-0036-9724 1 Catherine J Collier 2 Gideon M Henderson 3 Len J McKenzie 4
title Tropical seagrass meadows modify seawater carbon chemistry: implications for coral reefs impacted by ocean acidification
spellingShingle Tropical seagrass meadows modify seawater carbon chemistry: implications for coral reefs impacted by ocean acidification
Richard Unsworth
title_short Tropical seagrass meadows modify seawater carbon chemistry: implications for coral reefs impacted by ocean acidification
title_full Tropical seagrass meadows modify seawater carbon chemistry: implications for coral reefs impacted by ocean acidification
title_fullStr Tropical seagrass meadows modify seawater carbon chemistry: implications for coral reefs impacted by ocean acidification
title_full_unstemmed Tropical seagrass meadows modify seawater carbon chemistry: implications for coral reefs impacted by ocean acidification
title_sort Tropical seagrass meadows modify seawater carbon chemistry: implications for coral reefs impacted by ocean acidification
author_id_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f
author_id_fullname_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f_***_Richard Unsworth
author Richard Unsworth
author2 Richard Unsworth
Catherine J Collier
Gideon M Henderson
Len J McKenzie
format Journal article
container_title Environmental Research Letters
container_volume 7
container_issue 2
container_start_page 024026
publishDate 2012
institution Swansea University
issn 1748-9326
doi_str_mv 10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024026
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Highly productive tropical seagrasses often live adjacent to or among coral reefs and utilize large amounts of inorganic carbon. In this study, the effect of seagrass productivity on seawater carbonate chemistry and coral calcification was modelled on the basis of an analysis of published data.Published data (11 studies, 64 records) reveal that seagrass meadows in the Indo-Pacific have an 83% chance of being net autotrophic, resulting in an average net sink of 155 gC m−2 yr−1. The capacities for seagrass productivity were analysed using an empirical model to examine the effect on seawater carbonate chemistry. Our analyses indicate that increases in pH of up to 0.38 units, and Ωarag increases of 2.9 are possible in the presence of seagrass meadows (compared to their absence) with the precise values of these increases dependent on water residence time (tidal flushing) and water depth. In shallow water reef environments, Scleractinian coral calcification downstream of seagrass has the potential to be ≈18% greater than in an environment without seagrass. If this potential benefit to reef calcifiers is supported by further study it offers a potential tool in marine park management at a local scale. The applicability of this will depend upon local physical conditions as well as the spatial configuration of habitats, and the factors that influence their productivity. This novel study suggests that, in addition to their importance to fisheries, sediment stabilization and primary production, seagrass meadows may enhance coral reef resilience to future ocean acidification.
published_date 2012-12-31T03:15:02Z
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score 11.014067

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