Dynamics of Millenary Organic Deposits Resulting from the Growth of the Mediterranean SeagrassPosidonia oceanica

Mateo, Miguel Ángel; Romero, Javier; Pérez, Marta; Littler, Mark M.; Littler, Diane S.

doi:10.1006/ecss.1996.0116

Cited by 323 publications

(272 citation statements)

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“…A nearly balanced NCP at an annual scale as suggested by the DIC incubations would imply that little excess organic carbon is available for export to adjacent coastal environments or for accumulation as extra aboveground or belowground biomass. P. oceanica meadows are known to have high storage rates of organic carbon (e.g., Mateo et al 1997;Gacia et al 2002) and to export large amounts of litter (Mateo et al 2003). At Fanals point (northeast Spain), Gacia et al (2002) reported that 29% of the annual deposition of carbon was derived from P. oceanica detritus and represents about half of the P. oceanica meadow production; in our case that would be about 3 mol C m 22 yr 21 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Organic carbon metabolism and carbonate dynamics in a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica), meadow

Barrón

Duarte

Frankignoulle

et al. 2006

Estuaries and Coasts

117

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We measured monthly dissolved oxygen (DO) changes in situ benthic incubations from March 2001 to October 2002 in a Posidonia oceanica meadow and unvegetated sediments of Magalluf Bay (Mallorca Island, Spain) to determine gross primary production (GPP), community respiration (R), and net community production (NCP). From June 2001 to October 2002, we also measured fluxes of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TAlk). The yearly integrated metabolic rates based on DO changes show that the P. oceanica communities are net autotrophic while the metabolic rates in the unvegetated benthic communities are nearly balanced. Higher calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) cycling, both in terms of production and dissolution, was observed in P. oceanica communities than in unvegetated benthic communities. In the P. oceanica meadow, the annual release of CO 2 from net CaCO 3 production corresponds to almost half of the CO 2 uptake by NCP based on DIC incubations. In unvegetated benthic communities, the annual uptake of CO 2 from net CaCO 3 dissolution almost fully compensates the CO 2 release by NCP based on DIC incubations. CaCO 3 dynamics is potentially a major factor in CO 2 benthic fluxes in seagrass and carbonate-rich temperate coastal ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Organic carbon metabolism and carbonate dynamics in a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica), meadow

Barrón

Duarte

Frankignoulle

et al. 2006

Estuaries and Coasts

117

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“…decompressed (202 6 79 Mg C org ha 21 and 167 6 65 Mg C org ha 21 , respectively, Supporting Information Table SI 4) are around half those reported in previous studies (372 6 75 Mg C org ha 21 , Fourqurean et al 2012) whereas burial rates (9-52 g C org m 22 yr 21 ) rank among the lowest values reported for other P. oceanica meadows studied in the past (6-175 g C org m 22 yr 21 , Mateo et al 1997). These results suggest that data hitherto available may have been biased toward meadows supporting very high carbon stocks and burial rates, as sampling was largely directed to P. oceanica reefs (e.g., Mateo et al 1997;Serrano et al 2012) that are impressive structures that can reach several meters high (Lo Iacono et al 2008) but may not be representative of the whole spectrum of existing P. oceanica meadows.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…These results suggest that data hitherto available may have been biased toward meadows supporting very high carbon stocks and burial rates, as sampling was largely directed to P. oceanica reefs (e.g., Mateo et al 1997;Serrano et al 2012) that are impressive structures that can reach several meters high (Lo Iacono et al 2008) but may not be representative of the whole spectrum of existing P. oceanica meadows.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The massive carbon stocks accumulated by P. oceanica have been explained on the basis of intrinsic properties of the species, including its long life span, high productivity, high belowground biomass and recalcitrant nature of its tissues (Mateo et al 2006) along with dense canopies that buffer particle resuspension (Gambi et al 1990;Gacia et al 1999;Terrados and Duarte 2000) while promoting particle trapping (Hendriks et al 2008;Kennedy et al 2010), high sedimentation rates and hence, high burial capacity (Mateo et al 2006). However, estimates of C org burial rates in P. oceanica meadows are still scarce (Mateo et al 1997;Serrano et al 2012) and the high variability in C org burial rates identified across meadows (Mateo et al 1997) suggests that the C org sink capacity is also controlled by environmental factors, which are, as for other species, poorly understood (Macreadie et al 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Effect of environmental factors (wave exposure and depth) and anthropogenic pressure in the C sink capacity of Posidonia oceanica meadows

Mazarrasa

Marbà

García-Orellana

et al. 2017

Limnology & Oceanography

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Seagrass are among the most important natural carbon sinks on Earth with Posidonia oceanica (Mediterranean Sea) considered as the most relevant species. Yet, the number of direct measurements of organic carbon burial rates in P. oceanica is still scarce and the effect of local environmental factors remains largely unexplored. In addition, P. oceanica meadows are declining due to the increase in anthropogenic pressure in coastal areas during the last century. The aim of this study is to assess the recent carbon sink capacity of P. oceanica and particularly the effect of human pressure and two environmental factors, water depth and exposure to wave energy (based on a fetch index), on the carbon burial rate since 1900. We conducted an extensive survey of sediment cores in meadows distributed across a gradient of depth, fetch, and human pressure around The Balearic Islands. Sediment and carbon accumulation rates were obtained from 210 Pb concentrations profiles. Top-30 centimeters carbon stocks (6.1 6 1.4 kg C m 22 ) and burial rates (26 6 6 g C m 22 yr 1 ) varied up to fivefold across meadows. No significant effect of water depth in carbon burial rates was observed. Although fetch was significantly correlated with sediment mean grain size, confirming the effect of wave exposure in the patterns of sedimentation, fetch alone could not explain the differences in carbon burial rates among the meadows examined. Human pressure affected carbon burial rates, leading to increased rates since the onset of the rise in anthropogenic pressure, particularly so in sheltered meadows supporting high human pressure.

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“…This can be explained by the fact that a few large seagrass species, mostly inhabiting protected and shallow environments, produces substantial accumulation of seagrass detritus buried in marine peat-like deposits. The most extraordinary example is exhibited by the Mediterranean endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica L. (Delile) (Lavery et al 2013), which forms up to several meters thick and several thousand years old deposits (Boudouresque et al 1980;Mateo et al 1997;Serrano et al 2012Serrano et al , 2014) also known as 'mat' (or 'matte'; Boudouresque et al 1980). The organic C stocks beneath P. oceanica meadows have been estimated to 0.5-12 × 10 15 g C for the Mediterranean Sea (Serrano et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular composition of plant parts and sediment organic matter in a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) mat

et al. 2016

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Molecular composition of plant parts and sediment organic matter in a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) mat.Aquatic Botany http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.aquabot.2016.05.009 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Graphical abstract Highlights-Analytical pyrolysis applied to Posidonia seagrass organs and marine mat deposit -Posidonia phenolic composition dominated by p-hydroxybenzoic acids -Peat-like mat deposits composed predominantly of root, rhizome and sheath materials -We suggest a link between Posidonia chemistry and C accumulation in mats AbstractPosidonia oceanica forms extensive peat-like deposits (mats) in Mediterranean coastal waters, which have a potential as carbon sinks and archives of environmental change.Nonetheless, the organic chemistry of both P. oceanica plant materials, as well as the environmental and diagenetic effects on the composition of its detritus, is poorly understood.We analyzed plant organs of P. oceanica and the coarse organic matter from a mat core spanning 750 yrs using pyrolysis techniques (PY-GC-MS and THM-GC-MS) to improve our understanding of their molecular properties and their preservation upon mat development. It

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Dynamics of Millenary Organic Deposits Resulting from the Growth of the Mediterranean SeagrassPosidonia oceanica

Cited by 323 publications

References 0 publications

Organic carbon metabolism and carbonate dynamics in a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica), meadow

Organic carbon metabolism and carbonate dynamics in a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica), meadow

Effect of environmental factors (wave exposure and depth) and anthropogenic pressure in the C sink capacity of Posidonia oceanica meadows

Molecular composition of plant parts and sediment organic matter in a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) mat

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