scholarly journals Adaptations by Zostera marina Dominated Seagrass Meadows in Response to Water Quality and Climate Forcing

Diversity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Shields ◽  
Kenneth Moore ◽  
David Parrish
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Zostera Marina ◽  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Climate Forcing ◽  
Seagrass Meadows ◽  
Response To Water

Global assessments of seagrass declines have documented accelerating rates of loss due to anthropogenic sediment and nutrient loadings, resulting in poor water quality. More recently, global temperature increases have emerged as additional major stressors. Seagrass changes in the Chesapeake Bay, USA provide important examples of not only the effects of human disturbance and climate forcing on seagrass loss, but also meadow recovery and resiliency. In the York River sub-tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, the meadows have been monitored intensively using annual aerial imagery, monthly transect surveys, and continuous water quality measurements. Here, Zostera marina has been demonstrating a shift in its historical growth patterns, with its biomass peaking earlier in the growing season and summer declines beginning earlier. We found an increasing trend in the length of the most stressful high temperature summer period, increasing by 22 days since 1950. Over the past 20 years, Z. marina’s abundance has exhibited periods of decline followed by recovery, with recovery years associated with greater spring water clarity and less time spent at water temperatures > 28 °C. Although human disturbance and climatic factors have been altering these seagrass meadows, resilience has been evident by an increase in reproductive output and regrowth from Z. marina seedlings following declines, as well as expansions of Ruppia maritima into areas previously dominated by Z. marina.

scholarly journals Multiple stressors threaten the imperiled coastal foundation species eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Chesapeake Bay, USA

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan S Lefcheck ◽  
David J Wilcox ◽  
Rebecca R Murphy ◽  
Scott R Marion ◽  
Robert J Orth
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Zostera Marina ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Water Quality Data

Interactions among global change stressors and their effects at large scales are often proposed, but seldom evaluated. This situation is primarily due to lack of comprehensive, sufficiently long-term, and spatially-extensive datasets. Seagrasses, which provide nursery habitat, improve water quality, and constitute a globally-important carbon sink, are among the most vulnerable habitats on the planet. Here, we unite 31-years of high-resolution aerial monitoring and water quality data to elucidate the patterns and drivers of eelgrass (Zostera marina) abundance in Chesapeake Bay, USA, one of the largest and most valuable estuaries in the world with an unparalleled history of regulatory efforts. We show that eelgrass area has declined 29% in total since 1991, with wide-ranging and severe ecological and economic consequences. We go on to identify an interaction between decreasing water clarity and warming temperatures as the primary driver of this trend. Declining clarity has gradually reduced eelgrass over the past two decades, primarily in deeper beds where light is already limiting. In shallow beds, however, reduced visibility exacerbates the physiological stress of acute warming, leading to recent instances of decline approaching 80%. While degraded water quality has long been known to influence underwater grasses worldwide, we demonstrate a clear and rapidly emerging interaction with climate change. We highlight the urgent need to integrate a broader perspective into local water quality management, in the Chesapeake Bay and in the many other coastal systems facing similar stressors.

scholarly journals Multiple stressors threaten the imperiled coastal foundation species eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Chesapeake Bay, USA

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan S Lefcheck ◽  
David J Wilcox ◽  
Rebecca R Murphy ◽  
Scott R Marion ◽  
Robert J Orth
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Zostera Marina ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Water Quality Data

Interactions among global change stressors and their effects at large scales are often proposed, but seldom evaluated. This situation is primarily due to lack of comprehensive, sufficiently long-term, and spatially-extensive datasets. Seagrasses, which provide nursery habitat, improve water quality, and constitute a globally-important carbon sink, are among the most vulnerable habitats on the planet. Here, we unite 31-years of high-resolution aerial monitoring and water quality data to elucidate the patterns and drivers of eelgrass (Zostera marina) abundance in Chesapeake Bay, USA, one of the largest and most valuable estuaries in the world with an unparalleled history of regulatory efforts. We show that eelgrass area has declined 29% in total since 1991, with wide-ranging and severe ecological and economic consequences. We go on to identify an interaction between decreasing water clarity and warming temperatures as the primary driver of this trend. Declining clarity has gradually reduced eelgrass over the past two decades, primarily in deeper beds where light is already limiting. In shallow beds, however, reduced visibility exacerbates the physiological stress of acute warming, leading to recent instances of decline approaching 80%. While degraded water quality has long been known to influence underwater grasses worldwide, we demonstrate a clear and rapidly emerging interaction with climate change. We highlight the urgent need to integrate a broader perspective into local water quality management, in the Chesapeake Bay and in the many other coastal systems facing similar stressors.

scholarly journals Seagrass, bioindicator, light, water quality, Zostera marina, Zostera noltii, Halodule wrightii, monitoring, Chlorophyll fluorescence, stable isotope, nutrients.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Chiara M. Bertelli
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Zostera Marina ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Zostera Noltii ◽  
Halodule Wrightii ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Seagrass Meadows

This thesis aims to investigate the effect of environmental drivers on seagrasses by studying shoot-scale and meadow-scale responses, focussing on Zostera marina, Zostera noltii and Halodule wrightii. Seagrasses are plants that have evolved from being terrestrial to living in an entirely marine environment which means they have become highly adapted. The conditions that effect seagrass growth can also be described as drivers as they have the ability to modify seagrass meadows in a variety of ways. These drivers can either be natural environmental factors or anthropogenic processes directly or indirectly affecting the marine environment in which seagrasses are found. These responses environmental conditions allow seagrasses to be used as indicators of the health of our coastal waters with poor water quality causing substantial impacts on seagrasses. Better knowledge of seagrass responses to local environmental conditions will help the identification of stressors which can then be managed. It will also help to comprehend the degree of risk to be expected from the threat of climate change including increased storm events, rises in sea level and sea temperature, and ocean acidification. Mitigating existing or potential impacts that lead to a reduction in water quality will improve the overall health and resilience of the seagrass to future threats from climate change.

scholarly journals Multiple stressors threaten an important coastal foundation species

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan S Lefcheck ◽  
David J Wilcox ◽  
Rebecca R Murphy ◽  
Scott R Marion ◽  
Robert J Orth
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Water Quality Data

Interactions among global change stressors and their effects at large scales are often proposed but seldom evaluated, in part due to lack of comprehensive, sufficiently long-term, and spatially-extensive datasets. Seagrasses, which provide nursery habitat, improve water quality, and constitute a globally-important carbon sink, are among the most vulnerable habitats on the planet. Here, we unite 31-years of high-resolution aerial monitoring and water quality data to elucidate the patterns and drivers of eelgrass (Zostera marina) abundance in Chesapeake Bay, USA, one of the largest and most valuable estuaries in the world, with an unparalleled history of regulatory efforts. We show that eelgrass cover has declined 29% in total since 1991, with wide-ranging and severe ecological and economic consequences. We go on to identify an interaction between decreasing water clarity and warming temperatures as the primary driver of this trend. Declining clarity has gradually reduced eelgrass over the past two decades, primarily in deeper beds where light is already limiting. In shallow beds, however, reduced visibility exacerbates the physiological stress of acute warming, leading to recent instances of decline approaching 80%. While degraded water quality has long been known to influence underwater grasses worldwide, we demonstrate a clear and rapidly emerging interaction with climate change. We highlight the urgent need to integrate a broader perspective into local water quality management, in the Chesapeake Bay and in the many other coastal systems facing similar stressors.

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