Modeled Dugong Effects on Seagrass Carbon Storage in Bahrain

A supplementary document presents a general animal-driven carbon-nutrient cycling model applied to dugongs in Halodule seagrass beds of Bahrain. The model, parameterized with literature data and validated against field measurements, estimates that a realistic dugong aggregation (~700 individuals) can enhance seagrass net primary production and net ecosystem carbon balance by an average of 2.4 times and sediment carbon stocks by 2.63 times. The research by Oswald J. Schmitz, last updated in May 2026, demonstrates the significant potential of megafauna conservation for climate mitigation.

Use Cases

• Modeling the impact of large herbivores on blue carbon budgets based on the described animal-driven carbon-nutrient cycling model.
• Estimating additional carbon capture and storage potential in seagrass ecosystems based on the reported 7.9 x10^7 kg C y^-1 captured and 9.1 x10^8 kg C stored.
• Informing conservation strategies for dugongs based on their quantified role in enhancing seagrass productivity and sediment carbon stocks.
• Calibrating ecosystem models for seagrass beds using the reported net primary production (NPP) and net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) scenarios.

Strengths

• Model outputs are validated against literature-based and field measurements for NPP, NECB, and sediment carbon stocks.
• The study quantifies effects with specific multipliers (e.g., 2.4x NPP enhancement) and total carbon figures (e.g., 9.1 x10^8 kg C stored).
• The model is applied to a defined 145 km^2 focal conservation area in Bahrain, a known dugong hotspot.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 26.5 KB DOCX file, suggesting limited scope and likely containing model description and results rather than raw or extensive tabular data.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for direct data analysis.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Model parameterized with literature data and validated with field measurements.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-26 04:37:34; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Halodule seagrass beds of Bahrain.