Subarctic sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima, Phaeophyceae) summer productivity and contribution to carbon budgets

Abstract

Kelp forests are known to be very productive ecosystems and constitute a central component of the marine carbon cycle in coastal areas. Nevertheless, crucial carbon-related data are missing to be able to include them properly in carbon budgets. A thorough understanding of the kelp contribution to the carbon cycle is especially important in regions prone to experiencing strong seasonal fluctuations in environmental conditions, such as subarctic regions. This study aimed to quantify primary productivity through growth rates and oxygen fluxes of a dominant kelp species in subarctic regions, Saccharina latissima, and to link oxygen fluxes to environmental parameters. Our results showed that strong primary productivity oxygen fluxes coincided with high light levels in July and most of August, while growth rates stayed similar all summer. An overall decline in all primary productivity proxies happened from late August, suggesting a seasonal slowing down of S. latissima metabolism. The estimated quantity of carbon stored in tissue during growth represented from 6% to 28% of the gross primary productivity. Further research is needed to explore how and how much carbon transits through living kelp tissue in different seasons, to better understand the contribution of subarctic kelp to coastal carbon budgets.