SEAGRASS ECOSYSTEMS

Authors

  • R. C. Phillips
  • N. A. Milchakova

Keywords:

seagrass, ecosystem, production, nutrient cycling, energy flow, biological regulation, ecosystem services

Abstract

The seagrass ecosystem is defined as a unit of biological organization comprised of interacting biotic and abiotic components. The structural components are shelter and food and feeding pathways and biodiversity. Functional components include the rate of nutrient cycling, the rate of energy flow, and biological regulation. Healthy intact seagrass ecosystems provide services since they relate to the health, stability and well-being of the environment in which they live, but also to that of human populations.

References

Aioi K., Mukai H., Koike I. et al. Growth and organic production of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in temperate waters of the Pacific coast of Japan. II. Growth analysis in winter // Aquat. Bot. – 1981. – 10. – P. 175 - 182.

Basson P. W., Burchard J. E., Hardy J. T et al. Biotopes of the Western Arabian Gulf: Marine Life and Environments of Saudi Arabia. Aramco Dept. of Loss Prevention and Environmental Affairs. -Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 1977. – 284 p.

Bell J., Bell D., Pollard D. A. Ecology of fish assemblages and fisheries associated with seagrasses // Biology of Seagrasses. – Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1989. – P. 565 - 609.

Borum J., Wium-Andersen S. Biomass and production of epiphytes on eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in the Oresund, Denmark // Ophelia. – 1980. – 1. – P. 57 - 64.

Brouns J. J. W. M. Growth patterns of some tropical Indo-West Pacific seagrasses // Aquat. Bot. - 1987. – 28. – P. 39 -61.

Brouns J. J. W. M., Heijs F.M.L. Biomass and production of the seagrass Enhalus acoroides (L.F.) Royle and its epiphytes // Aquat. Bot. - 1986. – 25. - P. 21 - 45.

Buesa R. J. Produccion primaria de la praderas de Thalassia testudinum de la plataforma noroccidental de Cuba. INP // Cuba Cent. Inv. Pesqueras, Reun. Bal. Trab. CIP. – 1972. – 3. – P. 101 - 143.

Buesa R. J. Population biomass and metabolic rates of marine angiosperms on the northwestern Cuban shelf //Aquat. Bot. – 1975. – 1. – P. 11 - 23.

Conover J. T. The importance of natural diffusion gradients and transport of substances related to benthic plant metabolism // Bot. Mar. – 1968. – 11. – P. 1 - 9.

Costanza R. The ecological, economic, and social importance of the oceans // Ecological Economics. – 1999. – 31. – P. 199 - 213.

Costanza R., d’Arget R., de Groot R. et al. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital // Nature. – 1997. – 387. - P. 253 - 260.

Dawes C. J. The dynamic seagrasses of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida coasts // Proc. of the Symposium on Subtropical-Tropical Seagrasses of the Southeastern United States. - Fla. Mar. Res. Publ., 1987. - No. 42. – P. 25 - 30.

Den Hartog C. Seagrasses and seagrass ecosystems: an appraisal of the research approach // Aquat. Bot. – 1979. – 7. - P. 105 - 117.

Dennison W. C., Orth R. J., Moore K. A. et al. Assessing water quality with submersed vegetation // BioScience. – 1993. - 43. – P. 86 - 94.

Dillon C. R. A comparative study of the primary productivity of estuarine phytoplankton and macrobenthic plants. Ph.D. Dissertation. - Univ. of North Carolina: Chapel Hill, 1971. - 112 p.

Fonseca M. S., Kenworthy W. J., Thayer G. W. Guidelines for the conservation and restoration of seagrasses in the united States and adjacent waters // NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis. - NOAA Coastal Ocean Office, Silver Spring, 1998. - Maryland Series. - No. 12. - 222 p.

Gessner F., Hammer L. Investigaciones sobre el clima de la luz en las regions marinas de la costa Venezolana // Bot. Inst. Oceanogr. – 1961. – 1. - P. 263 - 272.

Greenway M. The effects of cropping on the growth of Thalassia testudinum in Jamaica // Aquaculture. – 1974. – 4. – P. 199 - 206.

Heck K. L., Jr. Some determinants of the composition and abundance of motile macroinvertebrate species in tropical and temperate turtle (Thalassia testudinum) meadows // J. Biogeogr. - 1979. - 6. – P. 183 - 200.

Heck K. L., Jr., Orth R. J. Seagrass habitats: the roles of habitat complexity, competition and predation in structuring associated fish and motile macroinvertebrate assemblages // Estuarine Perspectives. - New York: Academic Press, 1980. – P. 449 - 464.

Heck K. L., Jr., Able K. W., Fahay M. P. Fishes and decapod crustaceans of Cape Cod eelgrass meadows: species composition, seasonal abundance patterns and comparison with unvegetated substrates // Estuaries. – 1989. – 12. – P. 59 - 65.

Hillman K., Walker D. I., Larkum A. W. D. Productivity and nutrient limitation // Biology of Seagrasses. – Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1989. – P. 635 - 685.

Kenworthy W. J., Thayer G. W., Fonseca M. S. The utilization of seagrass meadows by fishery organisms // The ecology and Management of Wetlands. Ecology of Wetlands. – Portland: Timera Press, 1988. - 1. – P. 548 - 560.

Jacobs R. P. W. M. Distribution and aspects of the production and biomass of eelgrass, Zostera marina L., at Roscoff, France //Aquat. Bot. – 1979. – 7. – P. 151 - 172.

Jones J. A. Primary productivity by the tropical marine turtle grass Thalassia testudinum Konig and its epiphytes. PhD Dissertation. – Miami: Univ. of Miami, 1968. - 196 p.

Kikuchi T. Faunal relationships in temperate seagrass beds // Handbook of Seagrass Biology: An Ecosystem Perspective. - New York: Marcel Dekker, 1980. – P. 153 - 172.

Kikuchi T., Peres J. P. Consumer ecology in seagrass beds // Seagrass Ecosystems: A Scientific Perspective. - New York: Marcel Dekker, 1977. - P. 147 - 193.

Lewis F. G. Habitat complexity in a subtropical seagrass meadow: the effect of macrophytes on species composition and abundance in benthic crustacean assemblages. - PhD. Dissertation, Florida State University: Tallahassee, FL, 1984. - 151 p.

Livingston R. J. Trophic response of fishes to habi-tat variability in coastal seagrass systems // Ecol-ogy. - 1984a. – 65. – P. 1258 - 1257.

Livingston R. J. The ecology of the Apalachicola Bay system: an estuarine profile //FWS/OBS-82/05. - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, 1984b. - 148 p.

Livingston R. J. Inshore marine habitats // Ecosystems of Florida. – Orlando: Univ. of Central Flor-ida Press, 1990. – P. 549 - 573.

McRoy C. P. The standing stock and ecology of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in Izembek Lagoon, Alaska. - M.S. Thesis. – Seattle: Univ. of Washington, 1966. - 137 p.

McRoy C. P. Standing stocks and related features of eelgrass populations in Alaska // J. Fish. Res. – 1970. – 27. – P. 1811 - 1821.

McRoy C. P. Seagrass productivity: carbon uptake experiments in eelgrass, Zostera marina // Aquaculture. – 1974. - 4. – P. 131 - 137.

McRoy C. P., Helfferich C. Seagrass Ecosystem: A Scientific Perspective. - New York: Marcel Dekker, 1977. - 314 p.

Morgan M. D.,Kitting C. L. Productivity and utilization of the seagrass Halodule wrightii and its attached epiphytes // Limnology and Oceanography. – 1984. - 29. – P. 1066 - 1076.

Mukai H., Aioi K., Koike I. et al. Growth and organic production of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in temperate waters of the Pacific coast of Japan. I. Growth analysis in spring-summer // Aquat. Bot. – 1979. – 7. – P. 47 - 56.

Odum H. T., Hoskin G. M. Comparative studies on the metabolism of marine waters. – Texas: Publishers of the Institute of Marine Science, 1958. – 9. – P. 48 - 58.

Ogden J. C. Faunal relationships in Caribbean seagrass beds // Handbook of Seagrass Biology: An Ecosystem Perspective. - New York: Garland STPM Press, 1980. – P. 173 – 198.

Orth R. J., Heck K. L, Jr. van Montfrans J. Faunal communities in seagrass beds: a review of the influence of plant structure and prey characteristics on predator-prey relationships // Estuaries. – 1984. - 7. – P. 339 - 350.

Patriquin D. G. The origin of nitrogen and phosphorus for growth of the marine angiosperm Thalassia testudinum// Mar. Biol. - 1972. - 15. – P. 35 - 46.

Patriquin D. G. Estimation of growth rate, production and age of the marine angiosperm Thalassia testudinum Konig. // Carib. J. Sci. – 1973. – 13. – P. 111 - 123.

Penhale P. A. Macrophyte-epiphyte biomass and productivity in an eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) community. // Journal of Exp. Marine Biol. and Ecol. – 1977. - 26. – P. 211 - 224.

Phillips R. C. Observations on the ecology and distribution of the Florida seagrasses // Florida Board of observation. Marine Laboratory Professional Papers Series. - 1960. - No. 2. - 72 p.

Phillips R. C. Ecological life history of Zostera marina L. (eelgrass) in Puget Sound, Washington. - PhD. Dissertation, Seattle: Univ. of Washington, 1972. - 154 p.

Phillips R. C. The ecology of eelgrass meadows in the Pacific Northwest: a community profile // USFWS/OBS-84/24. - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, 1985. - 85 p.

Phillips R. C., Menez E. G. Seagrasses. – Smith-sonian Contributions to the Marine Sciences, 1988. - No. 34. - 104 p.

Phillips R. C., Durako M. J. Global status of seagrasses // Seas at the Millenium: An Environ-mental Evaluation. - 3. - Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2000. – P. 1 - 16.

Pollard P. C., Greenway M. Photosynthetic characteristics of seagrasses, Cymodocea serrulata, Thalassia hemprichii, and Zostera capricorni, in a low-light environment, with a comparison of leaf-marking and lacunal-gas measurements of productivity // Austr. J. of Mar. and Freshwater Res. - 1993. – 44. - P. 127 - 139.

Pulich W. M. Seagrass Conservation Plan for Texas. – Austin: Resource Protection Division, 1999. - 79 p.

Sand-Jensen K. Biomass, net production and growth dynamics in an eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) population in Vellerup Vig, Denmark // Ophelia. - 1975. – 14. – P. 185 - 201.

Sand-Jensen K., Borum J. Regulation of growth in eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in Danish coastal waters // Marine Tech. Soc. J. - 1983. – 17. – P. 15 - 21.

Short F. T. Nitrogen resource analysis and model-ing of an eel-grass (Zostera marina L.) meadow in Izembek Lagoon, Alaska. - Ph.D. Dissertation, Fairbanks, Univ. of Alaska, 1981. - 173 p.

Short F. T., Wyllie-Echeverria S. Natural and human-induced disturbance of seagrasses // Environmental Conservation. – 1996. – 23. – P. 17 - 27.

Stauffer R. C. Changes in the invertebrate commu-nity of a lagoon after disappearance of the eelgrass // Ecology - 1937. – 18. – P. 427 - 431.

Thayer G. W., Stuart H. H., Kenworthy W. J. et al. Habitat values of saltmarshes, mangroves, and seagrasses for aquatic organisms // Proc. National Symposium on Wetlands. - American Water Resources Association. Minneapolis, MN, 1978. - P. 235 - 247.

Thayer G. W., Kenworthy W. J., Fonseca M. S. The ecology of eelgrass meadows of the Atlantic coast: a community profile // FWS/OBS-84/02. - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, 1984. - 147 p.

Thayer G. W., Fonseca M. S., Kenworthy W. J. Ecological values of seagrasses. Atlantic Coastal Submerged Aquatic Vegetation // ASMFC Habitat Management Series. - 1997. - No. 1. - 10 p.

Thayer G. W., Powell A. B., Hoss D. E. Composition of larval, juvenile and small adult fishes relative to changes in environmental conditions in Florida Bay // Estuaries. - 1999. – 22. – P. 518 - 533.

Virnstein R. W., Mikkelson P. S., Cairns K. D. et al. Seagrass beds versus sand bottoms: the trophic importance of their associated benthic invertebrates // Florida Scientist. – 1983. – 46. – P. 363 - 381.

Wood E. J. F., Odum W. E., Zieman J. C. 1969. Influence of sea grasses on the productivity of coastal lagoons // Coastal Lagoons. – Mexico: Universidad Nacaional Autonoma de Mexico, 1969. – P. 495 - 502.

Zieman J. C. A study of the growth and decomposition of the seagrass Thalassia testudinum. - M.S. Thesis, Florida, Univ. of Miami, 1968. - 50 p.

Zieman J. C. The ecology of the seagrasses of south Florida: a community profile // FWS/OBS-82/25. - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, 1982. - 158 p.

Zieman J. C. Quantitative and dynamic aspects of the ecology of turtle grass, Thalassia testudinum // Estuarine Research. - Vol. 1. Chemistry, Biology and the Estuarine System. - New York: Academic Press, 1975. – P. 541 - 562.

Zieman J. C., Zieman R. T. The ecology of the seagrass meadows of the west coast of Florida: a community profile. Biological Report 85 (7. 25). - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, 1989. - 155 p.

Downloads

Published

2023-06-05