Abstract：
One of the main disturbances caused by coastal nuclear power plants is the discharge of thermal effluents capable of affecting a number of marine systems, including macroalgal forests that support key ecosystem services such as carbon uptake, fisheries increment and coastal protection. This study aimed at describing the long-term trend (1992-2022) in the abundance of Sargassum forests from sites located inside and outside areas affected by the thermal effluent discharged by the Brazilian Nuclear Power Station (BNPS) and at evaluating the relationship between Sargassum cover and seawater temperature. This information is interesting to provide insights on whether and how Sargassum populations would likely be affected by increasing temperature due to climate change. We detected a long-term decline in Sargassum cover inside, but not outside the area affected by the BNPS thermal plume. Mean summer surface seawater temperature above 30 °C was identified as an important factor driving the decline of Sargassum abundance. This study highlights the impact caused by decades of discharge of the BNPS thermal effluent on Sargassum forests, which leads to predict the likely disappearance of marine forests under a climate change scenario in other sites situated in warm temperate regions.
摘要：
沿海核电厂造成的主要干扰之一是能影响若干海洋系统的热流出物的排放,包括支持碳吸收等关键生态系统服务的大型藻类森林，渔业增量和沿海保护。这项研究旨在描述来自受巴西核电站（BNPS）排放的热废水影响的区域内外的马尾藻森林丰度的长期趋势（1992-2022年），并评估马尾藻之间的关系覆盖和海水的不同成分。这些信息很有趣，可以提供有关马尾藻种群是否以及如何可能受到气候变化导致的温度升高的影响的见解。我们发现里面的马尾藻覆盖率长期下降，但不在受BNPS热羽流影响的区域之外。超过30°C的夏季平均表层海水温度被确定为推动马尾藻丰度下降的重要因素，确认来自巴西海岸其他地区的马尾藻种群的实验数据。这项研究强调了BNPS热废水排放数十年对马尾藻森林的影响，这导致预测海洋森林在其他位于暖温带地区的气候变化情景下可能消失。
