FACE-IT: The future of Arctic coastal ecosystems - Identifying transitions in fjord systems and adjacent coastal areas

Part of EU Open Research Repository
Published September 14, 2022 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Global seaweed productivity

Creators

  • 1. UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
  • 2. CCMAR, CIMAR, Universidade do Algarve, Gambelas, Faro, Portugal
  • 3. 1)UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; 2)Institute of Marine Research, His, Norway.
  • 4. Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA, UK.
  • 5. 1) CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, Sorbonne Université, 181 chemin du Lazaret, F-06230 Villefranche-sur-mer, France. 2) Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations, Sciences Po, 27 rue Saint Guillaume, F-75007 Paris, France.
  • 6. 1) Red Sea Research Centre (RSRC) and Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia. 2) Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.
  • 7. 1) Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark. 2) Depart-ment of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, DK-8600 Silkeborg, Denmark.
  • 8. The Dove Marine Laboratory, School of Natural and Environmental Science, New-castle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK.
  • 9. Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK
  • 10. 1) UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. 2) Institute of Marine Research, His, Norway. 3) Roskilde University, Box 260, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark.

Description

Abstract: The magnitude and distribution of net primary production (NPP) in the coastal ocean remains poorly constrained, particularly for shallow marine vegetation. Here, using a compilation of in situ annual NPP measurements across >400 sites in 72 geographic ecoregions, we provide global predictions of the productivity of seaweed habitats, which form the largest vegetated coastal biome on the planet. We find that seaweed NPP is strongly coupled to climatic variables, peaks at temperate latitudes, and is dominated by forests of large brown seaweeds. Seaweed forests exhibit exceptionally high per-area production rates (a global average of 656 and 1711 gC m−2 year−1in the subtidal and intertidal, respectively), being up to 10 times higher than coastal phytoplankton in temperate and polar seas. Our results show that seaweed NPP is a strong driver of production in the coastal ocean and call for its integration in the oceanic carbon cycle, where it has traditionally been overlooked.

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Pessarrodona et al. 2022 Global seaweed productivity.pdf

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