Limit, cease or prohibit the degradation and/or removal of carbon sequestering species and/or habitats

Overall effectiveness category No evidence found (no assessment)
Number of studies: 0
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

not assessed
Certainty

not assessed
Harms

not assessed

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

Anthropogenic climate change is driven by atmospheric gases, including carbon dioxides (IPCC 2013). Certain marine species and habitats, such as oyster reefs, coral reefs, seagrass beds and macroalgae forests, can act as sinks for the carbon dioxide that gets absorbed in seawater (Dehon 2010; Mcleod et al. 2011). However, many of these carbon-sequestrating species are vulnerable to climate change (Hoegh-Guldberg & Bruno 2010). Limiting, ceasing or prohibiting the degradation and/or removal of these carbon sequestering species and habitats may potentially benefit subtidal benthic invertebrates through improved resilience and reduction in carbon dioxide levels.

Evidence for other interventions related to carbon sequestration are summarised under “Threat: Climate change and severe weather – Promote natural carbon sequestration species and/or habitats”.

_{Dehon D.D. (2010) Investigating the use of bioengineered oyster reefs as a method of shoreline protection and carbon storage. Master’s Thesis. Louisiana State University, 1084.}

_{Hoegh-Guldberg O. & Bruno J.F. (2010) The impact of climate change on the world’s marine ecosystems. Science, 328, 1523–1528.}

_{IPCC (2013) Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex & P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.}

_{Mcleod E., Chmura G.L., Bouillon S., Salm R., Björk M., Duarte C.M., Lovelock C.E., Schlesinger W.H. & Silliman B.R. (2011) A blueprint for blue carbon: toward an improved understanding of the role of vegetated coastal habitats in sequestering CO2. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 9, 552–560.}

Key messages

We found no studies that evaluated the effects of limiting, ceasing or prohibiting the degradation and/or removal of carbon sequestering species and/or habitats on subtidal benthic invertebrate populations.

‘We found no studies’ means that we have not yet found any studies that have directly evaluated this intervention during our systematic journal and report searches. Therefore, we have no evidence to indicate whether or not the intervention has any desirable or harmful effects.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Please cite as:

Lemasson, A.J., Pettit, L.R., Smith, R.K. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Subtidal Benthic Invertebrate Conservation. Pages 635-732 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Subtidal Benthic Invertebrate Conservation

Related Actions

Actions	Effectiveness	Category
Promote natural carbon sequestration species and/or habitats Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	Synopsis Link
Restore habitats and/or habitat-forming (biogenic) species following extreme events Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	Synopsis Link
Transplant captive-bred or hatchery-reared individuals of habitat-forming (biogenic) species that are resistant to climate change Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	Synopsis Link