Seagrass ecosystems reduce disease risk and economic loss in marine farming production

Seaweed farming comprises over half of global coastal and marine
aquaculture production by mass, however the future of the industry is
increasingly threatened by disease outbreaks. Nature-based solutions
provided by enhancing functions of coinciding species or ecosystems offer
an opportunity to increase yields by reducing disease outbreaks while
conserving biodiversity. Seagrass ecosystems can reduce the abundance of
marine bacterial pathogens, although it remains unknown whether this
service can extend to reducing disease risk in a marine resource. Using a
meta-analysis of articles published over the past 40 years, we find that
17 known diseases of seaweeds are associated with bacteria that have been
previously shown to be lower when associated with seagrass ecosystems.
Next, we surveyed over 8,000 individual seaweeds among farms in Indonesia
and found disease risk is reduced by 75% when seaweeds are co-cultivated
directly within seagrass ecosystems, compared to when seagrass ecosystems
were removed. Finally, we estimate that farming seaweed with seagrass
ecosystems could increase annual revenue by $292,470 – $1,015,990 USD per
km2 from yield loss due to disease reduction, and that ~20.7 million km2
in 107 countries and 34 territories have suitable environmental conditions
for farming seaweeds with seagrass ecosystems. These results highlight the
global utility for nature-based solutions as an ecologically and
economically sustainable management strategy.

海藻养殖按质量计占全球沿海及海水养殖总产量的一半以上，然而该产业的未来正日益受到病害暴发的威胁。通过强化共生物种或生态系统功能所提供的基于自然的解决方案（nature-based solutions），为减少病害暴发、提升产量同时保护生物多样性提供了可行路径。海草生态系统可降低海洋细菌病原体的丰度，但目前尚不清楚该生态系统服务能否延伸至降低海洋养殖资源的病害风险。我们通过对过去40年间发表的文献开展荟萃分析（meta-analysis），发现17种已知海藻病害与此前研究中在海草生态系统关联下丰度更低的细菌相关。随后，我们对印度尼西亚多家养殖场的8000余株单体海藻开展了调查，结果显示：相较于移除海草生态系统的养殖模式，当海藻直接与海草生态系统共培养时，病害风险可降低75%。最后，我们估算得出：通过与海草生态系统协同养殖海藻，每平方公里海域可因病害减少挽回产量损失，每年新增营收29.247万至101.599万美元；全球共有107个国家及34个地区的约2070万平方公里海域具备开展该类协同养殖的适宜环境条件。上述研究结果凸显了基于自然的解决方案作为生态与经济可持续管理策略的全球应用价值。