GLOBAL EXTENT, PRODUCTION AND TRENDS OF MARINE ALGAL FORESTS

Duarte, Carlos M.

GLOBAL EXTENT, PRODUCTION AND TRENDS OF MARINE ALGAL FORESTS

Type

Presentation

Authors

Duarte, Carlos M.

KAUST Department

King Abdullah Univ Sci & Technol KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
Marine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division

Date

2021-07-01

Abstract

lgal forests represent the most extensive coastal habitat in the ocean, believed to play an important role in supporting biodiversity and carbon fluxes in the ocean. Yet, reliable estimates of the area and global production of algal forests are not available, and estimates available in the literature have been carried over along a chain of citations from estimates, representing best guesses rather than empirical assessments, for nearly half a century. Here we build on new developments on global data on environmental drivers and observations of macroalgal presence and production around the world to provide a first estimate of their global extent, production and trends in marine algal forests globally.