Evaluation of ecosystem services provided by farmed and wild seaweeds

Abstract

Marine macroalgae provide a variety of ecosystem services in the environmental, social and economic spheres. This study presents a qualitative assessment of the ecosystem services offered by marine macroalgae (cultivated and natural populations). Furthermore, it provides a better understanding of the benefits of macroalgae cultivated in a case study (Gracilaria birdiae) in a tropical area in Brazil. For this, a literature review was carried out using articles available on the internet (Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, Scielo and Google Scholar) published between 2009 and 2020, which addressed the ecosystem services associated with macroalgae. A total of 1,428 articles were analyzed, of which 163 reported some type of ecosystem service. The most registered service was regulation (30.1%), followed by provision (28.4%), support (28.0%) and cultural (13.5%). In the case study, 12 services were identified, five of which belonged to support, three to cultural, two to provision and two to regulation. Thus, both cultivated macroalgae and natural populations offer diverse ecosystem services that contribute to environmental improvement and play a positive role in the preservation and conservation of the environment and human well-being. In addition, the ecosystem services provided by macroalgae are fully aligned with several Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDGs 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13 and 14, which encompass the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, social and economic).