Publication Date:
2024-03-15
Description:
Seagrass beds serve as important carbon sinks, and it is thought that increasing the quantity and quality of such sinks could help to slow the rate of global climate change. Therefore, it will be important to (1) gain a better understanding of seagrass bed metabolism and (2) document how these high-productivity ecosystems are impacted by climate change-associated factors, such as ocean acidification (OA) and ocean warming (OW). A mesocosm-based approach was taken herein in which a tropical, Western Pacific seagrass species Thalassia hemprichii was cultured under either control or OA-simulating conditions; the temperature was gradually increased from 25 to 31 °C for both CO2 enrichment treatments, and it was hypothesized that this species would respond positively to OA and elevated temperature. After 12 weeks of exposure, OA (~1200 ppm) led to (1) increases in underground biomass and root C:N ratios and (2) decreases in root nitrogen content. Rising temperatures (25 to 31 °C) increased the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv:Fm), productivity, leaf growth rate, decomposition rate, and carbon sequestration, but decreased the rate of shoot density increase and the carbon content of the leaves; this indicates that warming alone does not increase the short-term carbon sink capacity of this seagrass species. Under high CO2 and the highest temperature employed (31 °C), this seagrass demonstrated its highest productivity, Fv:Fm, leaf growth rate, and carbon sequestration. Collectively, then, it appears that high CO2 levels offset the negative effects of high temperature on this seagrass species. Whether this pattern is maintained at temperatures that actually induce marked seagrass stress (likely beginning at 33–34 °C in Southern Taiwan) should be the focus of future research.
Keywords:
Alkalinity, total; Alkalinity, total, standard deviation; Ammonium; Ammonium, standard deviation; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Aragonite saturation state, standard deviation; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Bicarbonate ion, standard deviation; Biomass, dry mass; Biomass, dry mass, standard deviation; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using CO2SYS; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbon, per shoot; Carbon, per shoot, standard deviation; Carbon, standard deviation; Carbon/Nitrogen ratio; Carbon/Nitrogen ratio, standard deviation; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide, standard deviation; Carbon sequestration, per shoot; Carbon sequestration, per shoot, standard deviation; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Dakwan; Decomposition rate; Decomposition rate, standard deviation; EXP; Experiment; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Growth/Morphology; Growth rate; Growth rate, standard deviation; Irradiance; Irradiance, standard deviation; Laboratory experiment; Leaf growth rate, per shoot; Maximum photochemical quantum yield of photosystem II; Maximum photochemical quantum yield of photosystem II, standard deviation; Mesocosm or benthocosm; Nitrate; Nitrate, standard deviation; Nitrite; Nitrite, standard deviation; Nitrogen; Nitrogen, standard deviation; North Pacific; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Oxygen, dissolved; Oxygen, dissolved, standard deviation; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); pH; pH, standard deviation; Phosphate; Phosphate, standard deviation; Potentiometric; Potentiometric titration; Primary production/Photosynthesis; Ratio; Salinity; Salinity, standard deviation; Seagrass productivity, per shoot; Seagrass productivity, per shoot, standard deviation; Shoot density; Shoot density, standard deviation; Shoot density increase rate; Shoot density increase rate, standard deviation; Single species; Species, unique identification; Species, unique identification (Semantic URI); Species, unique identification (URI); Temperature; Temperature, water; Temperature, water, standard deviation; Thalassia hemprichii; Treatment; Treatment: temperature; Tropical; Type
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 540 data points
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