Recent trend reversal for declining European seagrass meadows
Recent trend reversal for declining European seagrass meadows
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DOI：
10.1038/s41467-019-11340-4
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发表时间：
2019-07-26
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Santos, Rui
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
de los Santos, Carmen B.;Krause-Jensen, Dorte;Santos, Rui
海草床是支撑渔业、碳封存和海岸保护的关键生态系统，在全球范围内受到威胁。在欧洲，有海草损失和恢复的相关报道，但在大陆尺度上海草面积和密度的变化仍不清楚。在此，我们整理了1869年至2016年的变化评估，结果显示，由于疾病、水质恶化和海岸开发，欧洲三分之一的海草面积已经丧失，损失在20世纪70年代和80年代达到顶峰。从那以后，大多数种类的海草损失率放缓，一些地方生长迅速的种类有所恢复，使得海草面积的净变化率在21世纪初出现逆转，同时大多数地点的密度指标有所改善或保持稳定。我们的研究结果表明，与全球评估相反，如今在欧洲，海草减少并非普遍状况，并且海草减少趋势的减缓及逆转是可能的，有望恢复它们所提供的服务。
Seagrass meadows, key ecosystems supporting fisheries, carbon sequestration and coastal protection, are globally threatened. In Europe, loss and recovery of seagrasses are reported, but the changes in extent and density at the continental scale remain unclear. Here we collate assessments of changes from 1869 to 2016 and show that 1/3 of European seagrass area was lost due to disease, deteriorated water quality, and coastal development, with losses peaking in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, loss rates slowed down for most of the species and fast-growing species recovered in some locations, making the net rate of change in seagrass area experience a reversal in the 2000s, while density metrics improved or remained stable in most sites. Our results demonstrate that decline is not the generalised state among seagrasses nowadays in Europe, in contrast with global assessments, and that deceleration and reversal of declining trends is possible, expectingly bringing back the services they provide.