Bergagna Lucía, Lovrich Gustavo, Riccialdelli Luciana, Sahade Ricardo
Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Córdoba, Argentina.
Sci Rep. 2024 Sep 4;14(1):20642. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-71319-0.
High-latitude ecosystems have been overlooked in carbon budgets, which traditionally focus on mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses. The benthic assemblages and their Nature Contributions to People in Namuncurá - Burdwood Bank I and II, two offshore sub-Antarctic Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), are the conservation values. Here we show that the carbon reservoirs of these MPAs can be greater than those of their Antarctic counterparts, which, together with their extension, emphasize the need to maintain their protected status. Considering their total area, these MPAs stored in biomass 52,085.78 Mg C, corresponding 34,964.16 Mg to organic carbon (OC) and 17,121.62 Mg to inorganic carbon (IC). Surficial sediments stored 933,258,336 Mg C with 188,089,629 Mg of OC and 745,168,707 Mg of IC. However, when accounting for CO production through CaCO precipitation, the IC fractions decrease to 3,150.37 Mg C and 137,111,042 Mg C for biomass and sediments, respectively. We assume low sediment deposition due to the oceanic location, as direct sedimentation rates for these areas are unavailable. Most blue carbon assessments have focused solely on OC, despite the formation of CaCO releases CO, decreasing net carbon storage. We compared various approaches for incorporating carbonates into carbon estimations. These results underscore the importance of including IC into carbon assessments and highlights the importance of sub-Antarctic benthic ecosystems as nature-based solutions to climate change.
高纬度生态系统在碳预算中一直被忽视，传统的碳预算主要关注红树林、盐沼和海草。位于亚南极近海的两个海洋保护区——纳蒙库拉-伯德伍德浅滩I和II的底栖生物群落及其对人类的自然贡献具有保护价值。我们在此表明，这些海洋保护区的碳储量可能大于南极同类保护区，这与其面积一起，凸显了维持其受保护地位的必要性。考虑到它们的总面积，这些海洋保护区的生物量中储存了52,085.78 Mg C，其中有机碳（OC）为34,964.16 Mg，无机碳（IC）为17,121.62 Mg。表层沉积物储存了933,258,336 Mg C，其中OC为188,089,629 Mg，IC为745,168,707 Mg。然而，在考虑通过碳酸钙沉淀产生的CO时，生物量和沉积物的IC部分分别降至3,150.37 Mg C和137,111,042 Mg C。由于这些区域的海洋位置，我们假设沉积物沉积率较低，因为这些区域的直接沉积速率数据不可用。尽管碳酸钙的形成会释放CO，从而降低净碳储存，但大多数蓝碳评估仅关注OC。我们比较了将碳酸盐纳入碳估算的各种方法。这些结果强调了在碳评估中纳入IC的重要性，并突出了亚南极底栖生态系统作为应对气候变化的基于自然的解决方案的重要性。
