Macrobenthos community and living organic carbon pools on muddy tidal flat: Implications from Aiwan Bay of Wenling in summer

TIAN Sujie, TANG Yanbin, YU Peisong, LIU Chenggang, LIU Qinghe, ZHANG Rongliang, SHOU Lu, ZENG Jiangning, LIAO Yibo

Journal of Marine Sciences ›› 2023, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (4) : 102-112.

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Journal of Marine Sciences ›› 2023, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (4) : 102-112. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1001-909X.2023.04.010

Macrobenthos community and living organic carbon pools on muddy tidal flat: Implications from Aiwan Bay of Wenling in summer

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Abstract

The intertidal zone is a key area connecting terrestrial ecosystems and marine ecosystems, among which muddy tidal flat is an important and easily overlooked CO2 collection habitat, and the macrobenthos play a central role in the input, transport and preservation of carbon. Macrobenthos community and living organic carbon pools of muddy tidal flat were analyzed in Aiwan Bay, eastern coast of Zhejiang Province in summer. The average abundance of macrobenthos was 105.2 ±37.2 ind/m2, and the average biomass was 46.9 ±6.4 g/m2. The major taxa components within the habitat were crustaceans and mollusks, and the ecosystem health status was excellent. The organic carbon contents of macrobenthos at Aiwan Bay from highest to lowest were other animals including fish and nemertinea (40.95%), polychaetas (22.98%), crustaceans (17.24%), echinoderms (15.90%), mollusks (10.76%), and estimated the macrobenthos carbon pool was 163.90 Mg, of which crustaceans have the largest contribution rate, accounting for 59.80%. The exploration of macrobenthos community structure and living organic carbon pools size in muddy tidal flat can provide scientific suggestion for constructing the blue carbon survey system and supply fundamental data to further quantify the overall carbon pool size in coastal habitats.

Key words

macrobenthos / blue carbon ecosystem / living carbon pool / muddy tidal flat

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TIAN Sujie , TANG Yanbin , YU Peisong , et al . Macrobenthos community and living organic carbon pools on muddy tidal flat: Implications from Aiwan Bay of Wenling in summer[J]. Journal of Marine Sciences. 2023, 41(4): 102-112 https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1001-909X.2023.04.010

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Fjords have been recently recognized as hot spots of organic carbon (Corg) sequestration in marine sediments. This study aims to identify regional and local drivers of variability of Corg burial in north Atlantic and Arctic fjords. We provide a comparative quantification of Corg, δ13C, photosynthetic pigments content, benthic biomass, consumption, Corg accumulation, and burial rates in sediments in six fjords (60–81°N). Higher sediment Corg content in southern Norway reflected longer phytoplankton growth season and higher productivity. Higher contributions of terrestrial Corg were noted in temperate/southern Norway (dense land vegetation and high precipitation) and Arctic/Svalbard (glacial erosion) than in subarctic/northern Norway locations. Benthic biomass and carbon consumption were best correlated to δ13C and photosynthetic pigments content indicating control by quality rather than quantity of available food. Benthic faunal consumption did not seem to affect the variability in Corg burial. Regional environmental factors (water temperature and latitude) combined with local factors (Corg, grain size, and pigment concentration) explained 94% of Corg burial variability. Based on the present study and literature data on Corg content, origin, and burial rates, the fjords were classified into four categories: temperate, subarctic, Arctic with glaciers, and Arctic without glaciers. The variability in marine productivity, terrestrial inflows, and carbon sequestration in fjords must be considered for global estimates of their role in blue carbon storage and for building scenarios of future changes in the course of climate warming.
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ALLGEIER J E, WENGER S, LAYMAN C A. Taxonomic identity best explains variation in body nutrient stoichiometry in a diverse marine animal community[J]. Scientific Reports, 2020, 10: 13718.
Animal-mediated nutrient dynamics are critical processes in ecosystems. Previous research has found animal-mediated nutrient supply (excretion) to be highly predictable based on allometric scaling, but similar efforts to find universal predictive relationships for an organism's body nutrient content have been inconclusive. We use a large dataset from a diverse tropical marine community to test three frameworks for predicting body nutrient content. We show that body nutrient content does not follow allometric scaling laws and that it is not well explained by trophic status. Instead, we find strong support for taxonomic identity (particularly at the family level) as a predictor of body nutrient content, indicating that evolutionary history plays a crucial role in determining an organism's composition. We further find that nutrients are "stoichiometrically linked" (e.g., %C predicts %N), but that the direction of these relationships does not always conform to expectations, especially for invertebrates. Our findings demonstrate that taxonomic identity, not trophic status or body size, is the best baseline from which to predict organismal body nutrient content.
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