Do whales really increase the oceanic removal of atmospheric carbon?
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Date
Authors
Meynecke, Jan-Olaf
Samanta, Saumik
De Bie, Jasper
Seyboth, Elisa
Dey, Subhra Prakash
Fearon, Giles
Vichi, Marcello
Findlay, Ken P.
Roychoudhury, Alakendra
Mackey, Brendan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Abstract
Whales have been titled climate savers in the media with their recovery
welcomed as a potential carbon solution. However, only a few studies were
performed to date providing data or model outputs to support the hypothesis.
Following an outline of the primary mechanisms by which baleen whales remove
carbon from the atmosphere for eventual sequestration at regional and global
scales, we conclude that the amount of carbon whales are potentially
sequestering might be too little to meaningfully alter the course of climate
change. This is in contrast to media perpetuating whales as climate engineers.
Creating false hope in the ability of charismatic species to be climate engineers
may act to further delay the urgent behavioral change needed to avert
catastrophic climate change impacts, which can in turn have indirect
consequences for the recovery of whale populations. Nevertheless, whales are
important components of marine ecosystems, and any further investigation on
existing gaps in their ecology will contribute to clarifying their contribution to the
ocean carbon cycle, a major driver of the world’s climate. While whales are vital
to the healthy functioning of marine ecosystems, overstating their ability to
prevent or counterbalance anthropogenically induced changes in global carbon
budget may unintentionally redirect attention from known, well-established
methods of reducing greenhouse gases. Large scale protection of marine
environments including the habitats of whales will build resilience and assist
with natural carbon capture.
Description
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The original contributions presented in the study are included
in the article/Supplementary Material. Further inquiries can be
directed to the corresponding author.
Keywords
Blue carbon, Whales, Carbon export, Ocean carbon cycle, Climate change, SDG-14: Life below water
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG-14:Life below water
Citation
Meynecke, J.O., Samanta, S., De Bie, J., Seyboth, E., Dey, S.P., Fearon, G., Vichi, M., Findlay, K., Roychoudhury, A. & Mackey, B. (2023) Do whales really increase the oceanic removal of atmospheric carbon? Frontiers in Marine Science 10:1117409.
DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1117409.