CARBON “pulses” created by industry could cause irreparable damage to Scotland’s marine ecosystems, new research suggests.
Work by Heriot-Watt and Glasgow universities found the underwater environment may be more sensitive to carbon dioxide than previously understood.
The finding, revealed today, is based on tests at Loch Sween, a sea loch near Lochgilphead in Argyll and Bute. Water enriched with the greenhouse gas was pumped into chambers placed over a coralline algal ecosystem.
The algae, which is found in oceans around the world, is a food source for a range of species including molluscs and sea urchins, also attracting larger species like cod.
Starfish and the hard, calcified algae were found to dissolve under acute CO2 exposure.
The work is published in the Marine Progress Ecology Series and Dr Heidi Burdett of Heriot-Watt University said: “Coralline algal ecosystems can be found in all the world’s coastal oceans and are particular common along the west coast of Scotland.
“Since coralline algae are highly calcified, we knew they would probably be quite sensitive to CO2.
“These beds have significant ecological and economical value.
“In Scotland, they act as nurseries for important catches like scallops, cod and pollock. We found that there was a rapid, community-level shift to net dissolution, meaning that within that community, the skeletons of calcifying organisms like star fish and coralline algae were dissolving.
“If you think of pulses of carbon dioxide being carried on the tide to a particular site, it’s like a flash flood of CO2.
“Our continued monitoring of the site directly after the CO2 exposure found recovery was comparably slow, which raises concern about the ability of these systems to ‘bounce back’ after repeated acute CO2 events.”
On the implications for industry, she went on: “If a local authority or government agency is deciding the location of a new fish farm, forestry or carbon capture site, we should be looking at what marine ecosystems are nearby and the potential for those ecosystems to be impacted by the new activities as a whole, rather than focusing on the impact on individual organisms.”
Emphasising the need for further studies in this area, Burdett – a research fellow at the Edinburgh institution’s Lyell Centre for Earth and Marine Science and Technology – said scientists must also look around the world for answers:
She said: “As part of Heriot-Watt’s Year of the Sea programme, we’ll be focusing on marine research not just in Scotland but at our global campuses.
“We need a much greater understanding of what’s happening in our lochs, rivers, seas and oceans.”
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