MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 294:9-22 (2005) - doi:10.3354/meps294009 Patterns of publication effort in coastal biogeochemistry: a bibliometric survey (1971 to 2003) Jean-Pierre Gattuso1,*, Nelly A. Dawson1, Carlos M. Duarte2, Jack J. Middelburg3 1Laboratoire d'Océanographie, CNRS-Université de Paris 6, BP 28, 06234 Villefranche-sur-Mer Cedex, France2IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Instituto Mediterraneo de Estudios Avanzados, C/ Miquel Marques 21, 07190 Esporles (Islas Baleares), Spain3The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Postbus 140, 4400 AC Yerseke, The Netherlands *Email: gattuso@obs-vlfr.fr ABSTRACT: A bibliographic database comprising 17604 references on biogeochemistry and disturbances in coastal ecosystems was compiled for the period 1971 to 2004 from the Aquatic Science and Fisheries Abstracts and the Web of Science databases. The coastal ocean received increased attention starting in the early 1990s, as shown by the increase in the rate of publication, both in absolute number (2-fold increase of the yearly rate) and relative to the publication rate of all disciplines (3-fold increase). The number of publications on each ecosystem type and the geographic location of study sites are not proportional to their respective surface area. By this measure, estuaries and the open continental shelf are, respectively, over- and under-investigated, and the research effort is disproportionately high in some areas (e.g. the North Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, the subjects of 41% of the publications) and low in other areas (e.g. high-latitude coastal zones and the western Pacific). The cycling of inorganic nutrients is the biogeochemical process receiving the highest research effort (46% of the publications). Although controversial, exchanges with the atmosphere, including CO2, have been poorly investigated, with only 1.3% of the publications. The magnitude of scientific community publishing increased 13-fold during the period of investigation, also demonstrating the growing interest in coastal biogeochemistry and disturbances. Moreover, the lists of authors have become longer, perhaps indicating research projects wider in scope. Senior authors from 137 countries contributed papers; the EU25 and the USA contributed about 1/3 of the publications each. The number of publications per million inhabitants is highly correlated to the gross domestic product per inhabitant, but some countries perform better (the Scandinavian countries, Australia, New Zealand and Canada) or less well (Japan, the USA and Italy) than average. The number of citations of the publications is highly variable and indicates that barriers between disciplines still exist. At least 2 specialized journals (Estuaries and Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science) are among the most relevant journals, but Marine Ecology Progress Series is the single most important source of literature in the fields of coastal biogeochemistry and disturbances. This diagnostic should be useful to the research community and funding agencies to address the present imbalances in research allocation and to steer attention to geographical areas and processes that remain poorly investigated. Only then can the role of the coastal ocean on the global biogeochemical cycles and its response to climatic and anthropogenic disturbances be clarified. KEY WORDS: Bibliometry · Coastal ecosystems · Biogeochemistry · Disturbances · Journals · Citations · Study sites · Affiliation Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 294. Online publication date: June 09, 2005 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2005 Inter-Research.
Blue Carbon is a term coined in 2009 to draw attention to the degradation of marine and coastal ecosystems and the need to conserve and restore them to mitigate climate change and for the other ecosystem services they provide. Blue Carbon has multiple meanings, which we aim to clarify here, which reflect the original descriptions of the concept including (1) all organic matter captured by marine organisms, and (2) how marine ecosystems could be managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby contribute to climate change mitigation and conservation. The multifaceted nature of the Blue Carbon concept has led to unprecedented collaboration across disciplines, where scientists, conservationists and policy makers have interacted intensely to advance shared goals. Some coastal ecosystems (mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass) are established Blue Carbon ecosystems as they often have high carbon stocks, support long-term carbon storage, offer the potential to manage greenhouse gas emissions and support other adaptation policies. Some marine ecosystems do not meet key criteria for inclusion within the Blue Carbon framework (e.g. fish, bivalves and coral reefs). Others have gaps in scientific understanding of carbon stocks or greenhouse gas fluxes, or currently there is limited potential for management or accounting for carbon sequestration (macroalgae and phytoplankton), but may be considered Blue Carbon ecosystems in the future, once these gaps are addressed.
The meadows formed by seagrasses have characteristics that make them a suitable habitat for many species of animals. The high primary productivity of the seagrasses, augmented with that of epiphytic and benthic algae, ensures an abundant supply of organic matter that can be used as the basic energy source for more or less complicated food webs. Moreover, the three-dimensional structure of the vegetation, with its network of roots and rhizomes and often dense leaf canopy, offers hiding places that protect against predation, and also provides substrate for attachment. The vegetation structure, furthermore, confers physical and chemical qualities to the environment that may attract fauna: currents within the canopy are reduced, the sediment is stabilized and often fine grained, and irradiance conditions are modified. In this chapter we will first take a closer look at the general abundance and species richness of the fauna associated with seagrass meadows, before turning to the faunal groups that have received major attention, i.e. fishes, crustaceans and molluscs. The association of sea cows and turtles with seagrass beds will also be discussed. The significance of seagrass meadows as a habitat and foraging area is a recurrent theme in these sections. In the final part of the chapter, the ways in which the fauna affect the functioning of the seagrasses will be addressed.
Abstract The build‐up of sulphide concentrations in sediments, resulting from high inputs of organic matter and the mineralization through sulphate reduction, can be lethal to the benthos. Sulphate reduction is temperature dependent, thus global warming may contribute to even higher sulphide concentrations and benthos mortality. The seagrass Posidonia oceanica is very sensitive to sulphide stress. Hence, if concentrations build up with global warming, this key Mediterranean species could be seriously endangered. An 8‐year monitoring of daily seawater temperature, the sulphur isotopic signatures of water ( δ 34 S water ), sediment (δ 34 S CRS ) and P. oceanica leaf tissue (δ 34 S leaves ), along with total sulphur in leaves ( TS leaves ) and annual net population growth along the coast of the Balearic archipelago (Western Mediterranean) allowed us to determine if warming triggers P. oceanica sulphide stress and constrains seagrass survival. From the isotopic S signatures, we estimated sulphide intrusion into the leaves ( F sulphide ) and sulphur incorporation into the leaves from sedimentary sulphides ( SS leaves ). We observed lower δ 34 S leaves , higher F sulphide and SS leaves coinciding with a 6‐year period when two heat waves were recorded. Warming triggered sulphide stress as evidenced by the negative temperature dependence of δ 34 S leaves and the positive one of F sulphide , TS leaves and SS leaves . Lower P. oceanica net population growth rates were directly related to higher contents of TS leaves . At equivalent annual maximum sea surface water temperature ( SST max ), deep meadows were less affected by sulphide intrusion than shallow ones. Thus, water depth acts as a protecting mechanism against sulphide intrusion. However, water depth would be insufficient to buffer seagrass sulphide stress triggered by Mediterranean seawater summer temperatures projected for the end of the 21st century even under scenarios of moderate greenhouse gas emissions, A1B. Mediterranean warming, therefore, is expected to enhance P. oceanica sulphide stress, and thus compromise the survival of this key habitat along its entire depth distribution range.
