Vegetative fragment production as a means of propagule dispersal for tropical seagrass meadows.

Autor: Tol SJ; Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, Cairns, Australia; College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia. Electronic address: samantha.tol@jcu.edu.au., Carter AB; Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, Cairns, Australia., York PH; Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, Cairns, Australia., Jarvis JC; University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA., Grech A; ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia., Congdon BC; College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia., Coles RG; Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, Cairns, Australia.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Marine environmental research [Mar Environ Res] 2023 Oct; Vol. 191, pp. 106160. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Sep 04.
DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2023.106160
Abstrakt: Background and Aims: Long distance dispersal (LDD) contributes to the replenishment and recovery of tropical seagrass habitats exposed to disturbance, such as cyclones and infrastructure development. However, our current knowledge regarding the physical attributes of seagrass fragments that influence LDD predominantly stems from temperate species and regions. The goal of this paper is to measure seagrass fragment density and viability in two tropical species, assessing various factors influencing their distribution.
Methods: We measured the density and viability of floating seagrass fragments for two tropical seagrass species (Zostera muelleri and Halodule uninervis) in two coastal seagrass meadows in the central Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Australia. We assessed the effect of wind speed, wind direction, seagrass growing/senescent season, seagrass meadow density, meadow location and dugong foraging intensity on fragment density. We also measured seagrass fragment structure and fragment viability; i.e., potential to establish into a new plant.
Key Results: We found that seagrass meadow density, season, wind direction and wind speed influenced total fragment density, while season and wind speed influenced the density of viable fragments. Dugong foraging intensity did not influence fragment density. Our results indicate that wave action from winds combined with high seagrass meadow density increases seagrass fragment creation, and that more fragments are produced during the growing than the senescent season. Seagrass fragments classified as viable for Z. muelleri and H. uninervis had significantly more shoots and leaves than non-viable fragments. We collected 0.63 (±0.08 SE) floating viable fragments 100 m -2 in the growing season, and 0.13 (±0.03 SE) viable fragments 100 m -2 in the senescent season. Over a third (38%) of all fragments collected were viable.
Conclusion: There is likely to be a large number of viable seagrass fragments available for long distance dispersal. This study's outputs can inform dispersal and connectivity models that are used to direct seagrass ecosystem management and conservation strategies.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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