Blue carbon stores in tropical seagrass meadows maintained under green turtle grazing.

ABSTRACT: Seagrass meadows are important sites for carbon storage. Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are marine megaherbivores that consume seagrass throughout much of their global range. With successful conservation efforts, turtle abundance will increase, leading to more meadows being returned to their natural grazed state. There is concern this may lead to a loss of carbon stored in these systems, but the effects of green turtle grazing on seagrass ecosystem carbon dynamics have not been investigated. Here we experimentally show that despite 79% lower net ecosystem production (NEP) following grazing (24.7 vs. 119.5 mmol C m-2 d-1) in a Caribbean Thalassia testudinum seagrass meadow, grazed areas maintained net positive metabolic carbon uptake. Additionally, grazing did not change the meadow producti

SUBMITTER: Johnson RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5648853 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature