Chapter 7
Carbon Flux in Seagrass Ecosystems
Miguel A. Mateo*
Departament d’Ecologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Diagonal 645,
08028 Barcelona, Spain
Just Cebri ´
an
Dauphin Island Sea Lab, 101 Bienville Blvd, Dauphin Island, AL 36528, USA
Kenneth Dunton
Marine Science Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, 750 Channel View Drive,
Port Aransas, TX 78373-5015, USA
Troy Mutchler
Department of Biological Sciences,
Mississippi State University, PO Drawer GY, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
I. Introduction
Understanding matter circulation in the biosphere
constitutes one of the fundamental research objectives for ecologists. Stocks of materials, their
distribution, and their fluxes between different compartments are basic parameters that need to be characterized to explain the functioning of any ecosystem. Their study is usually arduous owing to the
variety of routes that materials can follow, and to
the complexity of the processes that are involved.
Leopold (1949) described matter flux in ecosystems
in a brief but elegant way in what he named ‘The
odyssey of the atom X ’: “An atom at large in the
biota is too free to know freedom; an atom back to
the sea has forgotten it. For every atom lost to the
sea, the prairie pulls another one out of the decaying rocks. The only certain truth is that its creatures
must suck hard, live fast, and die often, lest its losses
exceed its gains.” When an atom abandons its long
rest in the lithosphere and joins the organic com∗ Author for correspondence, email: mateo@ub.edu
partment of the biosphere, it enters in that fast cyclic
dynamic that characterizes life. Autotrophic organisms bring an atom to life, while the organism’s death
leaves it at the mercy of decomposers that return it
to the inorganic compartment where it waits to join a
new cycle. The persistence of an ecosystem relies on
both the optimization of carbon and nutrient acquisition and on the minimization of carbon and nutrient
losses (Hemminga et al., 1991). In other words, persistence requires a continuous effort to prevent the
atoms essential for life from escaping the fast cycles that enable the high production we observe on
our planet. Therefore, a fine tuned balance between
production and remineralization (and the fluxes between sources and sinks) govern the rhythm of the
ecosystems.
This chapter, far from pretending to be an exhaustive examination or reassessment of what is known
about carbon fluxes in seagrass ecosystems, is an
attempt to put a picture of carbon flux in focus
by combining equal parts of literature review, personal achievements (including some recent unpublished and submitted results), a critical appraisal, and
159–192.
A. W. D. Larkum et al. (eds.), Seagrasses: Biology, Ecology and Conservation, pp.
c
2006 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands.
Carbon Flux in Seagrass Ecosystems
Miguel A. Mateo*
Departament d’Ecologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Diagonal 645,
08028 Barcelona, Spain
Just Cebri ´
an
Dauphin Island Sea Lab, 101 Bienville Blvd, Dauphin Island, AL 36528, USA
Kenneth Dunton
Marine Science Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, 750 Channel View Drive,
Port Aransas, TX 78373-5015, USA
Troy Mutchler
Department of Biological Sciences,
Mississippi State University, PO Drawer GY, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
I. Introduction
Understanding matter circulation in the biosphere
constitutes one of the fundamental research objectives for ecologists. Stocks of materials, their
distribution, and their fluxes between different compartments are basic parameters that need to be characterized to explain the functioning of any ecosystem. Their study is usually arduous owing to the
variety of routes that materials can follow, and to
the complexity of the processes that are involved.
Leopold (1949) described matter flux in ecosystems
in a brief but elegant way in what he named ‘The
odyssey of the atom X ’: “An atom at large in the
biota is too free to know freedom; an atom back to
the sea has forgotten it. For every atom lost to the
sea, the prairie pulls another one out of the decaying rocks. The only certain truth is that its creatures
must suck hard, live fast, and die often, lest its losses
exceed its gains.” When an atom abandons its long
rest in the lithosphere and joins the organic com∗ Author for correspondence, email: mateo@ub.edu
partment of the biosphere, it enters in that fast cyclic
dynamic that characterizes life. Autotrophic organisms bring an atom to life, while the organism’s death
leaves it at the mercy of decomposers that return it
to the inorganic compartment where it waits to join a
new cycle. The persistence of an ecosystem relies on
both the optimization of carbon and nutrient acquisition and on the minimization of carbon and nutrient
losses (Hemminga et al., 1991). In other words, persistence requires a continuous effort to prevent the
atoms essential for life from escaping the fast cycles that enable the high production we observe on
our planet. Therefore, a fine tuned balance between
production and remineralization (and the fluxes between sources and sinks) govern the rhythm of the
ecosystems.
This chapter, far from pretending to be an exhaustive examination or reassessment of what is known
about carbon fluxes in seagrass ecosystems, is an
attempt to put a picture of carbon flux in focus
by combining equal parts of literature review, personal achievements (including some recent unpublished and submitted results), a critical appraisal, and
159–192.
A. W. D. Larkum et al. (eds.), Seagrasses: Biology, Ecology and Conservation, pp.
c
2006 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands.