Estuarine sediments make an important contribution to the global carbon cycle, but we do not know how this will change under a future climate, which is expected to have lower pH oceans and frequent high-temperature days. Six combinations of warming and partial pressures of CO2 (pCO2) were chosen to investigate the combined and individual effects of short-term pressures on the diel metabolic response of shallow unvegetated sediments ex-situ. Whereas warming significantly increased respiration, making sediments more heterotrophic, high-pCO2 increased net primary productivity, resulting in less heterotrophic sediments. As a result, warming decreased the carbon burial potential of estuarine sediments and high-pCO2 had the opposite effect. High-pCO2 mitigates the negative effects of warming on benthic metabolism under the combined scenario, with carbon burial similar to that expected under high-pCO2 conditions alone. Climate scenarios also changed the diurnal pCO2 variation, with ranges increasing by 33% with warming, and almost doubling under high-pCO2 conditions. An additive response in pCO2 variability was observed under the combined scenario, increasing to 2.3× the current diel-pCO2 range, highlighting the reduced buffering capacity of the water associated with a high CO2 climate. Future carbon burial and export under increased frequencies of unseasonably warm days projected for mid and end of century (30% and 50% of days-per-year, respectively) were estimated with and without ocean acidification. By 2100, warming alone could decrease annual estuarine sediment burial potential by 25%. However, ocean acidification could mitigate the negative effects of more frequent high-temperature days and increase carbon burial potential over current conditions by ~18%.
Simone M. N., Schulz K. G., Eyre B. D. & Oakes J. M., in press. Ocean acidification may mitigate negative effects of warming on carbon burial potential in subtidal unvegetated estuarine sediments. Limnology and Oceanography. Article (subscription required).
