Leveraging mangroves to advance climate action in Africa: Zooming in on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Mangroves are vital for climate change adaptation and mitigation due to their efficient carbon sequestration and coastal protection roles providing often untapped opportunities for countries to enhance their national climate commitments (including the so-called Nationally Determined Contributions) under the Paris Agreement adopted at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP21 in 2015. In Africa, several countries possess mangroves and have signed the Paris Agreement, however, the level of integration of mangrove actions into the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) has not been adequately explored. Using a systematic review methodology, 33 African countries possessing mangroves were selected and their NDCs were reviewed, scored, and ranked to assess their level of integration of mangrove ecosystems into their NDCs.

Copepod Mortality due to Short-Term Exposure to Natural Ultraviolet Radiation at Subtropical Latitudes.

Zooplankton, particularly copepods, are key components in aquatic food webs. However, the effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on copepods in marine systems, especially at tropical and subtropical latitudes, are not well understood. Incubations in UV and non-UV treatments during outdoor solar experiments at a subtropical latitude where copepods dominated the zooplankton community demonstrated that UV exposure led to 40%-50% higher mortality than in non-UV treatments after 4 h of exposure.

Cryptic diversity in southern African kelp.

The southern coast of Africa is one of the few places in the world where water temperatures are predicted to cool in the future. This endemism-rich coastline is home to two sister species of kelps of the genus Ecklonia maxima and Ecklonia radiata, each associated with specific thermal niches, and occuring primarily on opposite sides of the southern tip of Africa. Historical distribution records indicate that E.

Marine macroinvertebrate ecosystem services under changing conditions of seagrasses and mangroves.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of changing environmental conditions on MMI ES in seagrasses and mangroves. We used data from satellite and biodiversity platforms combined with field data to explore the links between ecosystem pressures (habitat conversion, overexploitation, climate change), conditions (environmental quality, ecosystem attributes), and MMI ES (provisioning, regulation, cultural). Both seagrass and mangrove extents increased significantly since 2016.

Seagrass ecosystems in the Western Indian Ocean.

Seagrasses are marine angiosperms widely distributed in both tropical and temperate coastal waters creating one of the most productive aquatic ecosystems on earth. In the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region, with its 13 reported seagrass species, these ecosystems cover wide areas of near-shore soft bottoms through the 12 000 km coastline. Seagrass beds are found intertidally as well as subtidally, sometimes down to about 40 m, and do often occur in close connection to coral reefs and mangroves.