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Seagrass-Associated Biodiversity Influences Organic Carbon in a Temperate Meadow

Lowri O’Neill, Bettina Walter, Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo

Oceans, Volume: 5, Issue: 4, Pages: 874 - 888

Swansea University Author: Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.3390/oceans5040050

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the role that seagrasses play in storing carbon in the context of climate mitigation, but many knowledge gaps in the factors controlling this storage exist. Here, we provide a small case study that examines the role of infaunal biodiversity in influencing seagrass and...

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Published in: Oceans
ISSN: 2673-1924
Published: MDPI 2024
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68499
first_indexed 2024-12-09T19:47:28Z
last_indexed 2024-12-09T19:47:28Z
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spelling 2024-12-09T12:53:31.4794083 v2 68499 2024-12-09 Seagrass-Associated Biodiversity Influences Organic Carbon in a Temperate Meadow b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f 0000-0003-0036-9724 Richard Unsworth Richard Unsworth true false 2024-12-09 BGPS There is increasing interest in the role that seagrasses play in storing carbon in the context of climate mitigation, but many knowledge gaps in the factors controlling this storage exist. Here, we provide a small case study that examines the role of infaunal biodiversity in influencing seagrass and the carbon stored in its sediments. A total of 25 species of invertebrate were recorded in an intertidal Zostera marina meadow, where these species were dominated by polychaete worms with no bivalves present. We find organic carbon storage (within the top 20 cm) measured by AFDW to be highly variable within a small area of seagrass meadow ranging from 2961 gC.m−2 to 11,620 gC.m−2 with an average (±sd) of 64602 ± 3274 gC.m−2. Our analysis indicates that infaunal communities are significantly and negatively correlated with this sediment organic carbon. However, this effect is not as influential as hypothesised, and the relatively small sample size of the present study limits its ability to provide strong causality. Other factors, such as algal abundance, curiously had a potentially stronger influence on the carbon in the upper sediments. The increasing richness of infauna is likely reducing the build-up of organic carbon, reducing its ecosystem service role. We believe this to likely be the result of bioturbation by specific species such as Arenicola marina and Ampharete acutifrons. A change in sediment organic carbon suggests that these species could be key drivers of bioturbator-initiated redox-driven organic matter turnovers, influencing the microbial processes and remobilizing sediment compounds. Bioturbators should be considered as a limitation to Corg storage when managing seagrass Corg stocks; however, bioturbation is a natural process that can be moderated when an ecosystem is less influenced by anthropogenic change. The present study only provides small-scale correlative evidence with a range of surprising results; confirming these results within temperate seagrasses requires examining this process at large spatial scales or with targeted experiments. Journal Article Oceans 5 4 874 888 MDPI 2673-1924 Blue carbon, polychaetes, eelgrass, drivers 5 11 2024 2024-11-05 10.3390/oceans5040050 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University Other This research received no external funding. 2024-12-09T12:53:31.4794083 2024-12-09T12:47:33.4398424 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Lowri O’Neill 1 Bettina Walter 2 Richard Unsworth 0000-0003-0036-9724 3
title Seagrass-Associated Biodiversity Influences Organic Carbon in a Temperate Meadow
spellingShingle Seagrass-Associated Biodiversity Influences Organic Carbon in a Temperate Meadow
Richard Unsworth
title_short Seagrass-Associated Biodiversity Influences Organic Carbon in a Temperate Meadow
title_full Seagrass-Associated Biodiversity Influences Organic Carbon in a Temperate Meadow
title_fullStr Seagrass-Associated Biodiversity Influences Organic Carbon in a Temperate Meadow
title_full_unstemmed Seagrass-Associated Biodiversity Influences Organic Carbon in a Temperate Meadow
title_sort Seagrass-Associated Biodiversity Influences Organic Carbon in a Temperate Meadow
author_id_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f
author_id_fullname_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f_***_Richard Unsworth
author Richard Unsworth
author2 Lowri O’Neill
Bettina Walter
Richard Unsworth
format Journal article
container_title Oceans
container_volume 5
container_issue 4
container_start_page 874
publishDate 2024
institution Swansea University
issn 2673-1924
doi_str_mv 10.3390/oceans5040050
publisher MDPI
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 There is increasing interest in the role that seagrasses play in storing carbon in the context of climate mitigation, but many knowledge gaps in the factors controlling this storage exist. Here, we provide a small case study that examines the role of infaunal biodiversity in influencing seagrass and the carbon stored in its sediments. A total of 25 species of invertebrate were recorded in an intertidal Zostera marina meadow, where these species were dominated by polychaete worms with no bivalves present. We find organic carbon storage (within the top 20 cm) measured by AFDW to be highly variable within a small area of seagrass meadow ranging from 2961 gC.m−2 to 11,620 gC.m−2 with an average (±sd) of 64602 ± 3274 gC.m−2. Our analysis indicates that infaunal communities are significantly and negatively correlated with this sediment organic carbon. However, this effect is not as influential as hypothesised, and the relatively small sample size of the present study limits its ability to provide strong causality. Other factors, such as algal abundance, curiously had a potentially stronger influence on the carbon in the upper sediments. The increasing richness of infauna is likely reducing the build-up of organic carbon, reducing its ecosystem service role. We believe this to likely be the result of bioturbation by specific species such as Arenicola marina and Ampharete acutifrons. A change in sediment organic carbon suggests that these species could be key drivers of bioturbator-initiated redox-driven organic matter turnovers, influencing the microbial processes and remobilizing sediment compounds. Bioturbators should be considered as a limitation to Corg storage when managing seagrass Corg stocks; however, bioturbation is a natural process that can be moderated when an ecosystem is less influenced by anthropogenic change. The present study only provides small-scale correlative evidence with a range of surprising results; confirming these results within temperate seagrasses requires examining this process at large spatial scales or with targeted experiments.
published_date 2024-11-05T20:36:45Z
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score 11.04748

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