RT journal article
T1 Carbon and nitrogen stocks in sediment at Península Valdés Biosphere Reserve: novel insights into the potential contribution of large marine vertebrates to carbon sequestration
A1 Jiménez Ramos, Rocío
A1 Egea Tinoco, Luis Gonzalo
A1 D’Agostino, V. C.
A1 Degrati, M.
A1 Loizaga, R.
A2 Biología
K1 blue carbon
K1 Eubalaena australis
K1 nitrogen sequestration
K1 Otaria flavescens
K1 salt marshes
K1 southern right whales
K1 South American sea lions
K1 sediment organic carbon
AB Although policymakers and stakeholders are beginning to acknowledge theimportance of the marine biosphere in blue carbon services, the role of largemarine vertebrates in the marine carbon and nitrogen cycle and especially in carbonsequestration has not yet been fully understood. Large marine vertebrates storeonly a small percentage of total oceanic carbon in their bodies, but they can provideimportant and lasting contributions to the oceanic carbon flux. The Penı́nsulaValdés Biosphere Reserve in southwestern Argentina was partially established toconserve these large marine vertebrates, including the South American sea lion(Otaria flavescens) and southern rightwhale (Eubalaena australis). Three locations inPeninsula Valdés were sampling for the proximity of marine vertebrate populationsin the area and the presence of salt marshes to assess the organic carbon (OC) andtotal nitrogen (TN) stocks in the top 1 m of sediment. Our work provides the firstquantitative data on the OC and TN sequestered in the coastal sediments ofPenı́nsula Valdés and shows that this protected area contributes significantly toblue carbon by storing relevant quantities of OC (140 to 317 Mg OC ha-1) andnitrogen (7.3 to 22.9 Mg TN ha-1). Specifically, we found that salt marshes andterrestrial plants were the main C sources in each sediment core, but a nonnegligibleproportion (from 0.8 to 6.8% dry weight) of the OC stocks showed anisotopic signal from the large vertebrates that usually inhabit the area. Therefore,our results provide novel hypotheses about the potential contribution of largemarine vertebrates as an OC vector in coastal systems and may serve as a basis forfurther investigation about their role into coastal blue carbon.
PB Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
SN 2296-7745
YR 2025
FD 2025-02-14
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/36863
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/36863
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 09-nov-2026