Ecosystem Service of Regulation at the Antares Regions ? Socioeconomic Implications: EPEA-Argentina case study

LUTZ, V.; CHIDIAK, M.; FROUIN, R.; NEGRI, R.; DOGLIOTTI, A. I.; FILIPELLO, C.; SILVA, R.; RUIZ, G.

Maryland

Simposio; 3rd Blue Planet Symposium; 2017

Atmospheric accumulation of CO2 dueto anthropogenic actions has increased the need to better understand the globalcarbon cycle. It is estimated that uptake by the global ocean has reduced theincrease in CO2 emissions by around 26%. Nevertheless, this uptakeis not homogeneous; it may vary as a result of environmental conditions and tobiological changes, specially the types and physiological response ofphytoplankton. Phytoplanktonic photosynthesis provides in this way an ecosystemservice of regulation, which for the most part remains "invisible" tosociety since it is not measured (quite in contrast to the case of carbonsequestration by forests, a regulation service that is regularly measured).            Inthis case study we make use of information from Argentina obtained fromdifferent platforms/sources: a) in situdata (chlorophyll-a concentration, proportion of three size-classes of phytoplankton)from the coastal time series EPEA; b) satellite data from MODIS-Aqua (chlorophyll-aconcentration); c) modeled data from NEMO (chlorophyll-a concentration, primaryproduction, differential partial pressure of CO2 between the oceanand the atmosphere or DpCO2); d) national inventories of GHG emissions. Our preliminary resultshave shown a trend towards an increase in chlorophyll-a concentration at EPEA(both from in situ and satelliteestimations) during the period 2000-2015. Furthermore, this increase was morepronounced for the <5 mm fraction, which is coincident with an increase in the proportion ofthe pico-phytoplankton community, and a modest increase in DpCO2 as estimated by NEMO. Analyses at anarrow spatial scale (around the EPEA station), are consistent with the trends retrievedby the different estimations. Finally integrated values of DpCO2 (from NEMO) will be compared with thevalues of GHG emissions provided by recent inventories (from the last two NationalCommunications). This will provide a first "indicator" of the relevanceof the regulation ecosystem service provided by the ocean that may help make itmore visible as well as help analyze the socioeconomic implications ofconservation efforts.     This work represents an attempttowards using detailed in situ andsatellite observations to explain trends in other relevant variables provided bya model, and to translate these results into policy-relevant information.  This study will be completed with further informationfrom additional Latin-American countries from the ANTARES network in the nearfuture, and it is a contribution of the IAI-CRN3094 project.