Acoustic monitoring of O-2 production of a seagrass meadow

• Acoustic data were acquired in October 2011 over a Posidonia oceanica meadow in the Bay of la Revellata, Calvi, Corsica. The purpose was to develop an acoustic system for monitoring the oxygen (O-2) production of an entire seagrass meadow. In a shallow water area (<38 m), densely covered by P. oceanica, a sound source transmitted signals in 3 different bands (400-800 Hz, 1.5-3.5 kHz and 65-8.5 kHz) toward three self-recording hydrophones at a distance of 100 m, over the period of one week. The data show a high correlation between the diel cycle of the acoustic signals' energy received by the hydrophones and the temporal changes in water column O-2 concentration as measured by optodes. The results thus show that a simple acoustic acquisition system can be used to monitor the O-2-based productivity of a seagrass meadow at the ecosystem level with high temporal resolution. The finding of a significant production of O-2 as bubbles in seagrass ecosysterns suggests that net primary production is underestimated by methods that rely on the mass balance of dissolved O-2 measurements.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Acoustic data

Oxygen

Primary production

Seagrass

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