Quantifying zoobenthic blue carbon storage across habitats within the Arctic’s Barents Sea
IntroductionThe Arctic sea ice extent in September (when it is at its lowest) has declined 13% Q10 per decade, and the Arctic Ocean is becoming a more Atlantic-influenced system. Rapid climate-forced changes are taking place in many high-latitude marine ecosystems. The Barents Sea is one such high-l...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1260884/full |
| _version_ | 1797346258564677632 |
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| author | Terri A. Souster David K. A. Barnes Raul Primicerio Lis Lindal Jørgensen |
| author_facet | Terri A. Souster David K. A. Barnes Raul Primicerio Lis Lindal Jørgensen |
| author_sort | Terri A. Souster |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionThe Arctic sea ice extent in September (when it is at its lowest) has declined 13% Q10 per decade, and the Arctic Ocean is becoming a more Atlantic-influenced system. Rapid climate-forced changes are taking place in many high-latitude marine ecosystems. The Barents Sea is one such high-latitude shelf ecosystem, between approximately 70° and 80°N in the Norwegian Arctic. The purpose of the current study was to estimate zoobenthic blue carbon across multiple habitats within the Barents Sea (trough, basin, shelf, and shallows), potentially providing values to aid ecosystem-based management of these areas under future climate change scenarios.MethodWe tested this by capture and analysis of 947 high-resolution (each 405.7 × 340.6 mm, 12 MB, 5 megapixels) seabed images at 17 sites with latitudinal cline, linked to a collection of corresponding oceanographic data. Biotas within these images were identified to one of the 14 functional groups and the density was calculated. Mean stored carbon per individual was assigned by ash mass (AM) and ash-free dry mass (AFDM) of individuals caught within Agassiz trawl deployments at the same sites.ResultsTrough sites, except for one site (B16), have a low quantity of zoobenthic blue carbon compared with the shallow, shelf, and basin habitats.DiscussionThe results of a previous study focused entirely on trough habitats and are therefore difficult to scale up as the basis for a meaningful estimate of across-habitat zoobenthic blue carbon in the Barents Sea. Compared with the trough and the basin, the shelf and shallow habitats of the Barents Sea are also subjected to more trawling events through demersal fisheries and showed higher zoobenthic blue carbon stock values. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:30:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d4a572d63d3c49a1be7cc0e277d21853 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:30:24Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-d4a572d63d3c49a1be7cc0e277d218532024-01-26T04:13:45ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452024-01-011010.3389/fmars.2023.12608841260884Quantifying zoobenthic blue carbon storage across habitats within the Arctic’s Barents SeaTerri A. Souster0David K. A. Barnes1Raul Primicerio2Lis Lindal Jørgensen3Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Tromsø, NorwayDepartment of Biodiversity, Evolution and Adaptation, The British Antarctic Survey (BAS), UKRI, Cambridge, United KingdomDepartment of Arctic and Marine Biology, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Tromsø, NorwayDepartment of Ecosystem Processes, Institute of Marine Research, Tromsø, NorwayIntroductionThe Arctic sea ice extent in September (when it is at its lowest) has declined 13% Q10 per decade, and the Arctic Ocean is becoming a more Atlantic-influenced system. Rapid climate-forced changes are taking place in many high-latitude marine ecosystems. The Barents Sea is one such high-latitude shelf ecosystem, between approximately 70° and 80°N in the Norwegian Arctic. The purpose of the current study was to estimate zoobenthic blue carbon across multiple habitats within the Barents Sea (trough, basin, shelf, and shallows), potentially providing values to aid ecosystem-based management of these areas under future climate change scenarios.MethodWe tested this by capture and analysis of 947 high-resolution (each 405.7 × 340.6 mm, 12 MB, 5 megapixels) seabed images at 17 sites with latitudinal cline, linked to a collection of corresponding oceanographic data. Biotas within these images were identified to one of the 14 functional groups and the density was calculated. Mean stored carbon per individual was assigned by ash mass (AM) and ash-free dry mass (AFDM) of individuals caught within Agassiz trawl deployments at the same sites.ResultsTrough sites, except for one site (B16), have a low quantity of zoobenthic blue carbon compared with the shallow, shelf, and basin habitats.DiscussionThe results of a previous study focused entirely on trough habitats and are therefore difficult to scale up as the basis for a meaningful estimate of across-habitat zoobenthic blue carbon in the Barents Sea. Compared with the trough and the basin, the shelf and shallow habitats of the Barents Sea are also subjected to more trawling events through demersal fisheries and showed higher zoobenthic blue carbon stock values.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1260884/fullblue carbonnature-based solutionspolarArcticbenthicclimate change |
| spellingShingle | Terri A. Souster David K. A. Barnes Raul Primicerio Lis Lindal Jørgensen Quantifying zoobenthic blue carbon storage across habitats within the Arctic’s Barents Sea Frontiers in Marine Science blue carbon nature-based solutions polar Arctic benthic climate change |
| title | Quantifying zoobenthic blue carbon storage across habitats within the Arctic’s Barents Sea |
| title_full | Quantifying zoobenthic blue carbon storage across habitats within the Arctic’s Barents Sea |
| title_fullStr | Quantifying zoobenthic blue carbon storage across habitats within the Arctic’s Barents Sea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantifying zoobenthic blue carbon storage across habitats within the Arctic’s Barents Sea |
| title_short | Quantifying zoobenthic blue carbon storage across habitats within the Arctic’s Barents Sea |
| title_sort | quantifying zoobenthic blue carbon storage across habitats within the arctic s barents sea |
| topic | blue carbon nature-based solutions polar Arctic benthic climate change |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1260884/full |
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