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Historical Analysis Exposes Catastrophic Seagrass Loss for the United Kingdom

Alix E. Green, Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo, Michael A. Chadwick, Peter J. S. Jones

Frontiers in Plant Science, Volume: 12

Swansea University Author: Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.3389/fpls.2021.629962

Abstract

The spatial extent of seagrass is poorly mapped, and knowledge of historical loss is limited. Here, we collated empirical and qualitative data using systematic review methods to provide unique analysis on seagrass occurrence and loss in the United Kingdom. We document 8,493 ha of recently mapped sea...

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Published in: Frontiers in Plant Science
ISSN: 1664-462X
Published: Frontiers Media SA 2021
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60381
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first_indexed 2022-07-05T11:24:35Z
last_indexed 2023-01-13T19:20:28Z
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spelling 2022-08-03T15:54:36.7606133 v2 60381 2022-07-05 Historical Analysis Exposes Catastrophic Seagrass Loss for the United Kingdom b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f 0000-0003-0036-9724 Richard Unsworth Richard Unsworth true false 2022-07-05 SBI The spatial extent of seagrass is poorly mapped, and knowledge of historical loss is limited. Here, we collated empirical and qualitative data using systematic review methods to provide unique analysis on seagrass occurrence and loss in the United Kingdom. We document 8,493 ha of recently mapped seagrass in the United Kingdom since 1998. This equates to an estimated 0.9 Mt of carbon, which, in the current carbon market represents about £22 million. Using simple models to estimate seagrass declines triangulated against habitat suitability models, we provide evidence of catastrophic seagrass loss; at least 44% of United Kingdom’s seagrasses have been lost since 1936, 39% since the 1980’s. However, losses over longer time spans may be as high as 92%. Based on these estimates, historical seagrass meadows could have stored 11.5 Mt of carbon and supported approximately 400 million fish. Our results demonstrate the vast scale of losses and highlight the opportunities to restore seagrass to support a range of ecosystems services. Journal Article Frontiers in Plant Science 12 Frontiers Media SA 1664-462X blue carbon, ecosystem change, habitat loss, intertidal, historic change, marine, shifting baselinesyndrome, Zostera spp 4 3 2021 2021-03-04 10.3389/fpls.2021.629962 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee This work was funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council (AG grant number NE/L002485/1. NE/L002485/1 2022-08-03T15:54:36.7606133 2022-07-05T12:19:17.6398553 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Alix E. Green 1 Richard Unsworth 0000-0003-0036-9724 2 Michael A. Chadwick 3 Peter J. S. Jones 4 60381__24449__cd7e074770f54cd2b6260f94c4bc445b.pdf 60381.VOR.pdf 2022-07-05T12:22:37.9940181 Output 3065560 application/pdf Version of Record true This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Historical Analysis Exposes Catastrophic Seagrass Loss for the United Kingdom
spellingShingle Historical Analysis Exposes Catastrophic Seagrass Loss for the United Kingdom
Richard Unsworth
title_short Historical Analysis Exposes Catastrophic Seagrass Loss for the United Kingdom
title_full Historical Analysis Exposes Catastrophic Seagrass Loss for the United Kingdom
title_fullStr Historical Analysis Exposes Catastrophic Seagrass Loss for the United Kingdom
title_full_unstemmed Historical Analysis Exposes Catastrophic Seagrass Loss for the United Kingdom
title_sort Historical Analysis Exposes Catastrophic Seagrass Loss for the United Kingdom
author_id_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f
author_id_fullname_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f_***_Richard Unsworth
author Richard Unsworth
author2 Alix E. Green
Richard Unsworth
Michael A. Chadwick
Peter J. S. Jones
format Journal article
container_title Frontiers in Plant Science
container_volume 12
publishDate 2021
institution Swansea University
issn 1664-462X
doi_str_mv 10.3389/fpls.2021.629962
publisher Frontiers Media SA
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description The spatial extent of seagrass is poorly mapped, and knowledge of historical loss is limited. Here, we collated empirical and qualitative data using systematic review methods to provide unique analysis on seagrass occurrence and loss in the United Kingdom. We document 8,493 ha of recently mapped seagrass in the United Kingdom since 1998. This equates to an estimated 0.9 Mt of carbon, which, in the current carbon market represents about £22 million. Using simple models to estimate seagrass declines triangulated against habitat suitability models, we provide evidence of catastrophic seagrass loss; at least 44% of United Kingdom’s seagrasses have been lost since 1936, 39% since the 1980’s. However, losses over longer time spans may be as high as 92%. Based on these estimates, historical seagrass meadows could have stored 11.5 Mt of carbon and supported approximately 400 million fish. Our results demonstrate the vast scale of losses and highlight the opportunities to restore seagrass to support a range of ecosystems services.
published_date 2021-03-04T04:18:26Z
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score 11.035765

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