Global seaweed productivity

• Published in: Science Advances
• Main Authors: Pessarrodona, Albert, Assis, Jorge, Filbee-Dexter, Karen, Burrows, Michael T., Gattuso, Jean-Pierre, Duarte, Carlos M., Krause-Jensen, Dorte, Moore, Pippa J., Smale, Dan A, Wernberg, Thomas
• Other Authors: Marine Science Program, Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division, Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia., CCMAR, CIMAR, Universidade do Algarve, Gambelas, Faro, Portugal., Institute of Marine Research, His, Norway., Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA, UK., CNRS, Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche, Sorbonne Université, 181 chemin du Lazaret, F-06230 Villefranche-sur-mer, France., Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations, Sciences Po, 27 rue Saint Guillaume, F-75007 Paris, France., Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark., Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, DK-8600 Silkeborg, Denmark., The Dove Marine Laboratory, School of Natural and Environmental Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK., Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK., Roskilde University, Box 260, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2022
• Subjects: Bia; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10754/681467; https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn2465

The magnitude and distribution of net primary production (NPP) in the coastal ocean remains poorly constrained, particularly for shallow marine vegetation. Here, using a compilation of in situ annual NPP measurements across >400 sites in 72 geographic ecoregions, we provide global predictions of the productivity of seaweed habitats, which form the largest vegetated coastal biome on the planet. We find that seaweed NPP is strongly coupled to climatic variables, peaks at temperate latitudes, and is dominated by forests of large brown seaweeds. Seaweed forests exhibit exceptionally high per-area production rates (a global average of 656 and 1711 gC m−2 year−1 in the subtidal and intertidal, respectively), being up to 10 times higher than coastal phytoplankton in temperate and polar seas. Our results show that seaweed NPP is a strong driver of production in the coastal ocean and call for its integration in the oceanic carbon cycle, where it has traditionally been overlooked. This research was supported by the Australian Research Council Research Training program (to A.P.), Australian Research Council (DP190100058, to T.W. and K.F.-D.; DE190100692, to K.F.-D.), the Norwegian Blue Forest Network (to K.F.-D., T.W., and D.K.-J.), a National Environment Research Council grant (NE/S01169/1, to P.J.M.), a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship grant (MR/S032827/1, to D.A.S.), the Independent Research Fund Denmark grant 8021-00222 B (to D.K.-J.), an EU Horizon 2020 contract 869154 (to D.K.-J.), the Foundation for Science and Technology (UID/Multi/04326/2020, UIDP/04326/2020, LA/P/0101/2020, PTDC/BIA- CBI/6515/2020, and DL57/2016/CP1361/CT0035, to J.A.), the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Veolia Foundation (to J.-P.G.), IAEA Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre (to J.-P.G.), and French Facility for Global Environment (to J.-P.G.).