Agulles M, Marbà N, Duarte C M, Jordà G
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares (IEO-CSIC), Palma, Spain.
Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (CSIC-UIB), Majorca, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2024 Dec 4;14(1):30269. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-81026-5.
Seagrasses are vital in coastal areas, offering crucial ecosystem services and playing a relevant role in coastal protection. The decrease in the density of Mediterranean seagrasses over recent decades, due to warming and anthropogenic stressors, may imply a serious environmental threat. Here we quantify the role of coastal impact reduction induced by seagrass presence under present and future climate. We focus in the Balearic Islands, a representative and well monitored region in the Mediterranean. Our results quantify how important the presence of seagrasses is for coastal protection. The complete loss of seagrasses would lead to an extreme water level (eTWL) increase comparable to the projected sea level rise (SLR) at the end of the century under the high end scenario of greenhouse gases emissions. Under that scenario, the eTWL could increase up to ~ 1.4 m, with 54% of that increase attributed to seagrass loss. These findings underscore the importance of seagrass conservation for coastal protection.
海草在沿海地区至关重要，提供关键的生态系统服务，并在海岸保护中发挥重要作用。近几十年来，由于气候变暖和人为压力源，地中海海草密度下降，这可能意味着严重的环境威胁。在此，我们量化了在当前和未来气候条件下，海草的存在对减少海岸影响的作用。我们聚焦于巴利阿里群岛，这是地中海一个具有代表性且监测良好的地区。我们的结果量化了海草的存在对海岸保护有多重要。在温室气体排放的高端情景下，海草的完全消失将导致极端水位（eTWL）上升，这与本世纪末预计的海平面上升（SLR）相当。在该情景下，eTWL可能上升高达约1.4米，其中54%的上升归因于海草的消失。这些发现强调了保护海草对海岸保护的重要性。
