The future of marine biodiversity and marine ecosystem functioning in UK coastal and territorial waters (including UK Overseas Territories) – with an emphasis on marine macrophyte communities

Abstract

Marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning – including seaweed communities – in the territorial waters of the UK and its Overseas Territories are facing unprecedented pressures. Key stressors are changes in ecosystem functioning due to biodiversity loss caused by ocean warming (species replacement and migration, e.g. affecting kelp forests), sea level rise (e.g. loss of habitats including salt marshes), plastic pollution (e.g. entanglement and ingestion), alien species with increasing numbers of alien seaweeds (e.g. outcompeting native species and parasite transmission), overexploitation (e.g. loss of energy supply further up the food web), habitat destruction (e.g. loss of nursery areas for commercially important species) and ocean acidification (e.g. skeletal weakening of ecosystem engineers including coralline algal beds). These stressors are currently affecting biodiversity, and their impact can be projected for the future. All stressors may act alone or in synergy. Marine biodiversity provides crucial goods and services. Climate change and biodiversity loss pose new challenges for legislation. In particular, there are implications of climate change for the designation and management of Marine Protected Areas and natural carbon storage by marine systems to help control the global climate system. The UK currently has legal obligations to protect biodiversity under international and European law.

Macroalgal vegetation on a north European artificial reef (Loch Linnhe, Scotland): biodiversity, community types and role of abiotic factors

“…Seaweeds are a key feature of the UK's marine biodiversity and the changes and threats that it faces (Küpper and Kamenos 2018). Large brown algae, kelps (Laminariales) and fucoids (Fucales), are major structuring elements on rocky shores of the UK, forming large intertidal and subtidal forest-like communities.…”

Dictyota falklandica sp. nov. (Dictyotales, Phaeophyceae) from the Falkland Islands and southernmost South America

“…However, the nearby subantarctic region is largely devoid of this order, and it is missing in Antarctica (Papenfuss 1964;Wiencke & Clayton 2002;Wiencke et al 2014). This study highlights that the overall diverse seaweed flora of the Falkland Islands still has significant potential for new discoveries, warranting further surveys and taxonomic studies (Küpper & Kamenos 2018). Dictyota falklandica sp.…”

Aspects of environmental impacts of seawater desalination: Cyprus as a case study

“…However, literature published in this category is now increasing at a fast rate, with an additional ~2000 publications since 2000 [52]. Thus, seawater desalination contributes to and exacerbates the typical anthropogenic stressors on the marine environment in the context of overall global change, especially ocean warming and acidification [53] and, indirectly, contributing to biodiversity loss and creating conditions more conducive to the establishment of alien species. This applies both locally due to the discharge of hypersaline brine, which is in many cases at increased temperatures, and also globally due to the strong production of CO 2 associated with fossil fuelpowered desalination.…”