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Potential negative effects of ocean afforestation on offshore ecosystems

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 6, pages 675–683 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Our scientific understanding of climate change makes clear the necessity for both emission reduction and carbon dioxide removal (CDR). The ocean with its large surface area, great depths and long coastlines is central to developing CDR approaches commensurate with the scale needed to limit warming to below 2 °C. Many proposed marine CDR approaches rely on spatial upscaling along with enhancement and/or acceleration of the rates of naturally occurring processes. One such approach is ‘ocean afforestation’, which involves offshore transport and concurrent growth of nearshore macroalgae (seaweed), followed by their export into the deep ocean. The purposeful occupation for months of open ocean waters by macroalgae, which do not naturally occur there, will probably affect offshore ecosystems through a range of biological threats, including altered ocean chemistry and changed microbial physiology and ecology. Here, we present model simulations of ocean afforestation and link these to lessons from other examples of offshore dispersal, including rafting plastic debris, and discuss the ramifications for offshore ecosystems. We explore what additional metrics are required to assess the ecological implications of this proposed CDR. In our opinion, these ecological metrics must have equal weight to CDR capacity in the development of initial trials, pilot studies and potential licensing.

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Fig. 1: Model simulations to explore the potential offshore dispersal and distributions of coastal macroalgae.
Fig. 2: Schematic illustrating the potential ecological consequences of the offshore transport and dispersal of macroalgal rafts.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Australian Research Council by Future Fellowship no. FT200100846 (to L.T.B.) and Laureate Fellowship no. FL160100131 (to P.W.B.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Philip W. Boyd, Lennart T. Bach, Catriona L. Hurd & Ellie Paine

  2. Division of Plant Sciences, University of Dundee at the James Hutton Institute, Dundee, UK

    John A. Raven

  3. Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia

    John A. Raven

  4. School of Biological Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia

    John A. Raven

  5. College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St Petersburg, FL, USA

    Veronica Tamsitt

  6. University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Veronica Tamsitt

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P.W.B., L.T.B., C.L.H., E.P., J.A.R. and V.T. discussed the topics included within this perspective and the selection of display items. P.W.B. wrote the first draft based on contributions from all authors. Subsequent drafts were reviewed by P.W.B., L.T.B., C.L.H., E.P., J.A.R. and V.T. V.T. designed and performed the dispersion modelling analysis.

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Boyd, P.W., Bach, L.T., Hurd, C.L. et al. Potential negative effects of ocean afforestation on offshore ecosystems. Nat Ecol Evol 6, 675–683 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01722-1

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