Does biodiversity‐focused protection of the seabed deliver carbon benefits? A U.K. case study

Epstein, Graham; Roberts, Callum M.

doi:10.1111/conl.12929

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…All mapped products as shown in Figures 5,8,11,12,13 and 14 have been made available as georeferenced TIFF files in the Borealis data repository at https://borealisdata.ca/privateurl.xhtml?token=7bb00f1e-2ce3-400c-955d-e8e0d4fe3080 (Epstein et al, 2023). This includes the mean predictions as well as the cell-specific 95% confidence interval bounds as shown in Appendix D. The repository also contains all data collated within the systematic data review of organic carbon content and the georeferenced TIFF files from the rock distribution case studies (Appendix E).…”

Section: Code and Data Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictive mapping of organic carbon stocks and accumulation rates in surficial sediments of the Canadian continental margin

Epstein,

Fuller,

Hingmire

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. The quantification and mapping of surficial seabed sediment organic carbon has wide-scale relevance across marine ecology, geology and environmental resource management, with carbon densities and accumulation rates being a major indicator of geological history, ecological function, and ecosystem service provisioning, including the potential to contribute to nature-based climate change mitigation. While global mapping products can appear to provide a definitive understanding of the spatial distribution of sediment carbon, there is inherently high uncertainty when making estimates at this scale. Finer resolution national maps which utilise targeted data syntheses and refined spatial data products are therefore vital to improve these estimates. Here, we report a national systematic review of data on organic carbon content in seabed sediments across Canada and combine this with a synthesis and unification of best available data on sediment composition, seafloor morphology, hydrology, chemistry, geographic setting and sediment mass accumulation rates within a machine learning mapping framework. Predictive quantitative maps of mud content, sediment dry bulk density, and organic carbon content, density and accumulation, were each produced along with cell specific estimates of their 95 % confidence interval (CI) bounds at 200 m resolution across 4,489,235 km2 of the Canadian continental margin (92.6 % of the seafloor area above 2,500 m). Fine-scale variation in carbon stocks was identified across the Canadian continental margin, particularly in the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean regions. Carbon accumulation was predicted to be concentrated in coastal areas, with the highest rates in the Gulf of St Lawrence and Bay of Fundy. Overall, we estimate the standing stock of organic carbon in the top 30 cm of surficial seabed sediments across the Canadian shelf and slope to be 10.7 Gt (95 % CI 6.6 – 16.0 Gt), and accumulation at 4.9 Mt per year (95 % CI 2.6 – 9.3 Mt y-1). Increased in-situ sediment data collection and higher precision in spatial environmental data-layers could significantly reduce uncertainty and increase accuracy in these products over time.

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Section: Code and Data Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictive mapping of organic carbon stocks and accumulation rates in surficial sediments of the Canadian continental margin

Epstein,

Fuller,

Hingmire

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…The offshore western MPA intends to protect continental slope reef habitats and birds, whereas the North-Eastern MPA focuses on coastal rocky and tidal habitats. Besides, recent research studies (Atwood et al, 2020;Epstein and Roberts, 2023) concluded that conservation measures, such as MPAs, fail to efficiently protect sediment carbon stocks and fluxes. Therefore, the protection of services should not be encapsulated in biological conservation only.…”

Section: Spatial Interactions Between Human Activities Mpas and Esmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping marine ecosystem services in a multifunctional seascape: the case of Grande Vasière (Bay of Biscay)

et al. 2023

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IntroductionCoastal and continental shelf ecosystems are among the most productive, yet exploited, ecosystems. The Grande Vasière (GV) covers most part of the French Northern part of the Bay of Biscay, a crucial fishing ground for metropolitan France. It is the place of numerous uses, especially fishing, and will soon shelter sand extraction activities and offshore windfarms. All these activities may compete for space and resources and put pressure on habitats, biodiversity and subsequent ecosystem services (ES). Current management strategies integrate these activities and biodiversity conservation schemes but no ES.MethodsTo fill that gap, we quantified and mapped nine indicators of ecosystem processes (EP), used as proxies of four ES (i.e. sea food provisioning, biological control, regulation of environmental conditions and life cycle maintenance). Due to the complexity of ES, we investigated several EP by ES. Then we identified hotspots and coldspots of supply and spatial overlap among EP and other uses (conservation, fishing, offshore windfarms and sand extraction).ResultsEP mapping suggests a higher capacity of supply of the chosen ES in the Northern part of the GV. We found a strong spatial heterogeneity among the EP related to the same ES, underlining a point of vigilance when designing management measures to sustain ES supply. Northern EP hotspots overlap with high amounts of bottom trawl fishing effort. Higher levels of commercial species diversity and sole spawning grounds in the South overlap with higher amounts of gillnet fishing effort. Areas of sand extraction prospection and offshore windfarms under construction should not overlap with hotspots of EP, at the exception of the sole spawning ground and the commercial species diversity hotspots. Finally, we highlight an overlap of more than 20% of four EP hotspots with Natura 2000 areas, while the Marine Natural Park in the South covers more EP coldspots (i.e. hake nursery, encounter rate, trophic links diversity) than hotspots.DiscussionIncorporating such a multifunctional spatial approach with hotspots and coldspots opens new perspective for marine spatial planning, pointing out the potential strengths and weaknesses of areas currently defined or prioritized for future uses like conservation, sand extraction or emerging activities like offshore windfarms.

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“…However, the protection of these habitats also provides the co-benefit of carbon storage and sequestration, though the amount of carbon fixed and stored may vary regionally (Krause-Jensen and Duarte 2016; Röhr et al 2018). Despite this variation and associated uncertainty around specific carbon fixation rates, there is building evidence on how to more directly include blue carbon ecosystems in MPA design to maximize climatechange mitigation benefits (Sala et al 2021;Epstein and Roberts 2022;Jankowska et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the design of the first marine protected area network in Pacific Canada under a changing climate

Rubidge,

Robb,

Thompson

et al. 2024

FACETS

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Marine protected area (MPAs) networks can buffer marine ecosystems from the impacts of climate change by allowing species to redistribute as conditions change and by reducing other stressors. There are, however, few examples where climate change has been considered in MPA network design. In this paper, we assess how climate change considerations were integrated into the design of a newly released MPA network in the Northern Shelf Bioregion in British Columbia, Canada, and then evaluate the resulting network against projected physical and biogeochemical changes and biological responses. We found that representation, replication, and size and spacing recommendations integrated into the design phase were met in most cases. Furthermore, despite varying degrees of projected changes in temperature, dissolved oxygen, and aragonite saturation across the MPA network, suitable habitat for demersal fish species is projected to remain in the network despite some redistribution among sites. We also found that mid-depth MPAs are particularly important for persistence, as fish are projected to move deeper to avoid warming in shallower areas. Our results highlight that a representative MPA network with adequate replication, that incorporates areas of varying climate change trajectory, should buffer against the impacts of climate change.

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Does biodiversity‐focused protection of the seabed deliver carbon benefits? A U.K. case study

Cited by 6 publications

References 35 publications

Predictive mapping of organic carbon stocks and accumulation rates in surficial sediments of the Canadian continental margin

Predictive mapping of organic carbon stocks and accumulation rates in surficial sediments of the Canadian continental margin

Mapping marine ecosystem services in a multifunctional seascape: the case of Grande Vasière (Bay of Biscay)

Evaluating the design of the first marine protected area network in Pacific Canada under a changing climate

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