Barnes David K A, Sands Chester J
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2017 Jun 27;12(6):e0179735. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179735. eCollection 2017.
High latitude benthos are globally important in terms of accumulation and storage of ocean carbon, and the feedback this is likely to have on regional warming. Understanding this ecosystem service is important but difficult because of complex taxonomic diversity, history and geography of benthic biomass. Using South Georgia as a model location (where the history and geography of benthic biology is relatively well studied) we investigated whether the composition of functional groups were critical to benthic accumulation, immobilization and burial pathway to sequestration-and also aid their study through simplification of identification. We reclassified [1], [2]) morphotype and carbon mass data to 13 functional groups, for each sample of 32 sites around the South Georgia continental shelf. We investigated the influence on carbon accumulation, immobilization and sequestration estimate by multiple factors including the compositions of functional groups. Functional groups showed high diversity within and between sites, and within and between habitat types. Carbon storage was not linked to a functional group in particular but accumulation and immobilization increased with the number of functional groups present and the presence of hard substrata. Functional groups were also important to carbon burial rate, which increased with the presence of mixed (hard and soft substrata). Functional groups showed high surrogacy for taxonomic composition and were useful for examining contrasting habitat categorization. Functional groups not only aid marine carbon storage investigation by reducing time and the need for team size and speciality, but also important to benthic carbon pathways per se. There is a distinct geography to seabed carbon storage; seabed boulder-fields are hotspots of carbon accumulation and immobilization, whilst the interface between such boulder-fields and sediments are key places for burial and sequestration.
就海洋碳的积累和储存以及这可能对区域变暖产生的反馈而言，高纬度底栖生物在全球范围内具有重要意义。由于底栖生物量的分类多样性、历史和地理情况复杂，了解这种生态系统服务既重要又困难。以南乔治亚岛作为一个模型地点（在那里对底栖生物学的历史和地理情况研究得相对充分），我们调查了功能群的组成对于底栖生物积累、固定以及封存途径的碳埋藏是否至关重要，并且通过简化识别过程来辅助对它们的研究。我们将[1]、[2]中的形态类型和碳质量数据重新分类为13个功能群，用于南乔治亚大陆架周围32个地点的每个样本。我们研究了包括功能群组成在内的多个因素对碳积累、固定和封存估计的影响。功能群在不同地点之间以及不同生境类型之间和内部都表现出高度多样性。碳储存并非特别与某一个功能群相关联，但积累和固定随着存在的功能群数量以及硬底质的存在而增加。功能群对于碳埋藏率也很重要，碳埋藏率随着混合（硬底质和软底质）的存在而增加。功能群在分类组成方面表现出高度的替代性，并且对于检查不同的生境分类很有用。功能群不仅通过减少时间以及对团队规模和专业知识的需求来辅助海洋碳储存研究，而且对于底栖生物碳途径本身也很重要。海底碳储存存在明显的地理差异；海底巨石场是碳积累和固定的热点区域，而这些巨石场与沉积物之间的界面是埋藏和封存的关键地点。
