Ocean urea fertilization for carbon credits poses high ecological risks

MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN

卷:56

Editorial Material

Glibert, Patricia M.¹  Azanza, Rhodora²  Burford, Michele³  Furuya, Ken⁴  Abal, Eva⁵  Al-Azri, Adnan⁶  Al-Yamani, Faiza⁷  Andersen, Per⁸  Anderson, Donald M.⁹  Beardall, John¹⁰  Berg, G. Mine¹¹  Brand, Larry¹²  Bronk, Deborah¹³  Brookes, Justin¹⁴  Burkholder, Joann M.¹⁵  Cembella, Allan¹⁶  Cochlan, William P.¹⁷  Collier, Jackie L.¹⁸  Collos, Yves¹⁹  Diaz, Robert¹³  Doblin, Martina²⁰  Drennen, Thomas^21,22  Dyhrman, Sonya^9,10  Fukuyo, Yasuwo²³  Furnas, Miles²⁴  Galloway, James²⁵  Graneli, Edna²⁶  Ha, Dao Viet²⁷  Hallegraeff, Gustaaf²⁸  Harrison, John²⁹  Harrison, Paul J.³⁰  Heil, Cynthia A.³¹  Heimann, Kirsten³²  Howarth, Robert³³  Jauzein, Cecile¹⁹  Kana, Austin A.^21,22  Kana, Todd M.¹  Kim, Hakgyoon³⁴  Kudela, Raphael³⁵  Legrand, Catherine²⁶  Mallin, Michael³⁶  Mulholland, Margaret³⁷  Murray, Shauna³⁸  O'Neil, Judith¹  Pitcher, Grant³⁹  Qi, Yuzao⁴⁰  Rabalais, Nancy⁴¹  Raine, Robin⁴²  Seitzinger, Sybil⁴³  Solomon, Caroline^26,44  Stoecker, Diane K.¹  Usup, Gires⁴⁵  Wilson, Joanne⁴⁶  Yin, Kedong³  Zhou, Mingjiang⁴⁷  Zhu, Mingyuan⁴⁸ 

[1] Univ Maryland, Ctr Environm Sci, Horn Point Lab, Cambridge, MD 21613 USA

[2] Univ Philippines, Inst Marine Sci, Quezon City 1101, Philippines

[3] Griffith Univ, Australian Rivers Inst, Brisbane, Qld 4111, Australia

[4] Univ Tokyo, Dept Aquat Biosci, Tokyo 1138657, Japan

[5] SE Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia

[6] Sultan Quboos Univ, Dept Marine Sci & Fisheries, Muscat, Oman

[7] Kuwait Inst Sci Res, Safat 13109, Kuwait

[8] Orbicon AS, DK-8260 Vibyj, Denmark

[9] Woods Hole Oceanog Inst, Dept Biol, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA

[10] Monash Univ, Sch Biol Sci, Clayton, Vic 3800, Australia

[11] Stanford Univ, Dept Geophys, Stanford, CA 94305 USA

[12] Univ Miami, Rosenstiel Sch Marine & Atmospher Sci, Div Marine Biol & Fisheries, Miami, FL 33149 USA

[13] Virginia Inst Marine Sci, Gloucester Point, VA 23062 USA

[14] Univ Adelaide, Water Res Cluster, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

[15] N Carolina State Univ, Ctr Appl Aquat Ecol, Raleigh, NC 27695 USA

[16] Alfred Wegener Inst Polar & Marine Res, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany

[17] San Francisco State Univ, Romberg Tiburon Ctr Environm Studies, San Francisco, CA 94920 USA

[18] SUNY Stony Brook, Marine Sci Res Ctr, Stony Brook, NY 11794 USA

[19] Univ Montpellier 2, IFREMER, CNRS, Lab Ecosyst Lagunaires UMR 5119, F-34095 Montpellier 5, France

[20] Univ Technol Sydney, Dept Environm Sci, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia

[21] Hobart & William Smith Coll, Dept Econ, Geneva, NY 14456 USA

[22] Hobart & William Smith Coll, Dept Environm Studies, Geneva, NY 14456 USA

[23] Univ Tokyo, Asian Nat Environm Sci Ctr, Bunkyo Ku, Tokyo 1138657, Japan

[24] Australian Inst Marine Sci, Water Qual & Ecosyst Hlth Team, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia

[25] Univ Virginia, Dept Environm Sci, Charlottesville, VA 22903 USA

[26] Univ Kalmar, Dept Marine Sci, Kalmar 39182, Sweden

[27] Inst Oceanog, Nhatrang City, Vietnam

[28] Univ Tasmania, Sch Plant Sci, Hobart, Tas 7001, Australia

[29] Washington State Univ, Sch Earth & Environm Sci, Vancouver, WA 98686 USA

[30] Hong Kong Univ Sci & Technol, Atmospher Marine & Coastal Environm Program, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Peoples R China

[31] Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservat Commiss, Fish & Wildlife Res Inst, St Petersburg, FL 33701 USA

[32] James Cook Univ, Sch Marine & Trop Biol, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia

[33] Cornell Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA

[34] Pukyong Natl Univ, Dept Ocean Sci, Pusan, South Korea

[35] Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Ocean Sci & Inst Marine Sci, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA

[36] Univ N Carolina Wilmington, Ctr Marine Sci, Wilmington, NC 28409 USA

[37] Old Dominion Univ, Dept Ocean Earth & Atmospher Sci, Norfolk, VA 23529 USA

[38] Univ Sydney, Sch Biol Sci, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

[39] Marine & Coastal Management, Cape Town, South Africa

[40] Jinan Univ, Res Ctr Harmful Algae & Aquat Environm, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong, Peoples R China

[41] Louisiana Univ Marine Consortium, Chauvin, LA 70344 USA

[42] Natl Univ Ireland, Martin Ryan Inst, Galway, Ireland

[43] State Univ New Jersey, NOAA CMER, Inst Marine & Coastal Sci, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 USA

[44] Gallaudet Univ, Dept Biol, Washington, DC 20002 USA

[45] Univ Kebangsaan Malaysia, Fac Sci & Technol, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia

[46] Nature Conservancy, Coral Triangle Ctr, Sanur 80228, Bali, Indonesia

[47] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Oceanol, Qingdao 266071, Peoples R China

[48] First Inst Oceanog, Qingdao 266071, Peoples R China

关键词: urea dumping;    ocean fertilization;    carbon credits;    Sulu Sea;    carbon sequestration;    harmful algae;    toxic dinoflagellates;    cyanobacteria;    hypoxia;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.marpolbul.2008.03.010

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The proposed plan for enrichment of the Sulu Sea, Philippines, a region of rich marine biodiversity, with thousands of tonnes of urea in order to stimulate algal blooms and sequester carbon is flawed for multiple reasons. Urea is preferentially used as a nitrogen source by some cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates, many of which are neutrally or positively buoyant. Biological pumps to the deep sea are classically leaky, and the inefficient burial of new biomass makes the estimation of a net loss of carbon from the atmosphere questionable at best. The potential for growth of toxic dinoflagellates is also high, as many grow well on urea and some even increase their toxicity when grown on urea. Many toxic dinoflagellates form cysts which can settle to the sediment and germinate in subsequent years, forming new blooms even without further fertilization. If large-scale blooms do occur, it is likely that they will contribute to hypoxia in the bottom waters upon decomposition. Lastly, urea production requires fossil fuel usage, further limiting the potential for net carbon sequestration. The environmental and economic impacts are potentially great and need to be rigorously assessed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free