— Ainsley

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Photos & text by Laura Soissons

“Where are the seagrasses?” This is the main question my colleagues and I had in mind last summer when we were visiting our field site in the Yellow River Delta area in China. Sadly enough, we haven’t seen them make a comeback.

Seagrasses in the Yellow River Delta are the main topic of a collaborative project between the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ-Yerseke) and the Yantai Institute for Coastal Zone Research (YIC-CAS) in China founded by the NSFC-NWO. As part of this project, my PhD research is, in a broad perspective, looking at the impact of human activities on seagrasses and how these activities can affect their resilience to environmental stresses. Our first and main focus is to understand the recent seagrass decline in the Yellow River Delta area.

And this is where the story starts…

When we first visited the area in 2011, we found a small and declining seagrass meadow southward of the Yellow river mouth, surrounded by dikes, oil platforms and salt industries. We called it: YR5.

Pumpjacks, oil platforms and salt evaporation ponds on the coastline surrounding the seagrass meadow

 

The meadow was composed of a single seagrass species: Zostera japonica and showed a sparse and poor distribution over the tidal flat.

One patch of the Zostera japonica meadow in May 2011 at YR5

 

We progressively learnt about the recent dike construction around the area that cut kilometres of the tidal flat, and thus changed the whole shape of the area. We also discovered some interesting and dominant species like the snail Bullacta exarata, which is invading the entire area and used for aquaculture. Further research on this snail showed us that it originates from Korea and arrived in the area in 2008 after being placed and cultured there by humans for food. It mainly feeds on diatoms and organic matter at the sediment surface but not on seagrasses. Nevertheless, this species is now colonizing the entire tidal flat and remains one of the last living species there (together with crabs and a few bivalves).

The snail Bullacta exarata (Philippi, 1848) at YR5

 

Back to the YR5 field site at the end of May 2012, we had hard times finding the seagrasses. After hours of searching we finally found some even scarcer shoots in an area surrounded by the saltmarsh plant Spartina anglica in tussocks (invasive plant in that area). Local temperatures were already high enough to think that the seagrasses were late for the growing season… And when we looked at the shoots in more details, we saw how unhealthy they were: holes in the leaves, black leaves and very weak tissues.

Left over of the seagrass meadow in May 2012 (zoom on seagrass shoots from the same place)

Two weeks after this discovery, we came back to the exact same place. We found only dead rhizomes, and just a couple of shoots left with more black leaves than before. We even felt very guilty for having been sampling a few shoots two weeks before (samples for tissue analysis, trace elements and pollutants content).

June 2012 – dead rhizomes at YR5 as the only remaining of the seagrass meadow

We observed a highly dynamic system over the summer with strong winds and waves at high tide. Sediment was getting coarser and accreting, sometimes burying the seagrass shoots. For our final visit at the end of July, no seagrasses were left. The dead rhizomes were washed away or already degraded and the hours we spent looking for seagrasses remained unsuccessful.

There are many reasons that could explain the sudden collapse of this Zostera japonica meadow at YR5. It could be the anthropogenic influence but also a combination of changing environmental variables and pollution from the Yellow River and surroundings. So far, we found no historical data reporting the existence of this meadow or anything related to the status of this particular tidal flat before the dike construction in 2009 (from what we know). Observing the seagrass meadow decline over its ‘growing season’ showed us one more time how crucial it is to take into account our long-term influence on a meadow. Stakeholders in that area will not give up on expanding their activities but also want to consider their impact and the need to preserve their environment. Within our project we want to emphasize this seagrass loss by understanding more about the reasons of their decline and how we made it happen.

Small invertebrates play a central role in seagrass communities as controllers of epiphyton and conduits for energy transfer from primary producers to higher trophic levels. Van Tussenbroek and collaborators at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, highlight a new interaction between meso-grazers and seagrasses by describing the foraging of invertebrates on the pollen/mucilage masses of the seagrass Thalassia testudinum during the night.

Male turtlegrass flower with invertebrate.

The fauna visiting the flowers was highly diverse 252 specimens belonging to 37 families and 57 species of crustaceans (Classes Maxillopoda, Ostracoda and Malacostraca) were found on 76 flowers, and 15 species were new records for the region. Annelids (mainly polychaetes) were less abundant (60 specimens) and diversified (13 species) and they exhibited no obvious differences in their visits to flowers with or without pollen. Negative consequences for reproductive success of the seagrass of the consumption of pollen by the invertebrates were most likely insignificant, because the quantities of removed pollen were very small. However, these invertebrates may serve as pollinators of T. testudinum, which if confirmed, makes this observation the first record of animal-pollination in the marine environment.

Check out the YouTube video

Find the paper in MEPS

Day 3: Geting into the swing of things
We started the morning with the third plenary speaker for the Worshop, Sophie Arnoud-Haund who gave us a round-up of the state of seagrass genetics and clonality. She offered insights into clonality and how it affects conservation of seagrass meadows. This was followed by a second day of 10-minute talks with the theme of .
In the afternoon we had two workshop sessions – mapping and ecosystem services. The workshop on mapping discussed and listed the various methods used by researchers and the challenges faced when mapping seagrass – and we learnt of some pretty creative methods used for mapping and detecting seagrass like for example, strapping a camera on the back of a manatee! The second workshop was on seagrass ecosystem services which really got us thinking about the value of seagrasses and the services they provide as it required listing the services of seagrass by genera.

Day 4: Field trip Day & Poster Session
We went out to hunt seagrass on Day 4 and we were brought to a meadow of Halodule wrightii seagrass. When we got to the site, it was windy and threatening to rain, but some of us decided to brave the cold and jump right in. This enthusiasm was perhaps fueled by rumours of a seeker’s prize for the first person to find Ruppia maritima in the meadow, but despite our best efforts, I don’t think anyone managed to find it. Just as we were wrapping up, the sun came out and the weather became more of what we had hoped for for a field trip day.

We also had an evening poster session, with some very simulating discussion aided by a large spread of yummy cheeses and wine

Day 5: Wrap up and dinner!
Gary Kendrick gave the last plenary of the ISBW and gave us an overview of seagrass dispersal and connectivity. After the last session of talks and workshop, we were rewarded with a conference dinner – a buffet style affair which everyone enjoyed. The student presentation and poster awards were also given out to the top 4 oral and best poster presentation.

And that concluded ISBW10 – there were some bleary-eyed farewells the next morning but in all everyone agreed that it was a successful workshop. Congratulations to Joel Creed and his team for a wonderful job done. See you guys in China in 2014!

The period for nomination for the next WSA Executive was extended, and closed on the 5 December, 2012.

The positions of Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary are uncontested with single nominees for each position. The nominations received are as follows:

Vice-President: Richard Unsworth
Nominator: Len McKenzie
Seconder: Giuseppe Di Carlo

Treasurer: Jessie Jarvis
Nominator: Giuseppe Di Carlo
Seconder: Len McKenzie

Secretary: Len McKenzie
Nominator: Rob Coles
Seconder: Rudi Yoshida

There are two nominees for President so this position will be decided by a vote:

Nomination 1

Giuseppe Di Carlo
Nominator: Len McKenzie
Seconder: Richard Unsworth

Nomination 2

Mike van Keulen
Nominator: Anitra Thorhaug
Seconder: Evamaria Koch

Voting is now open but will close on the 19 December, 2012 — so please do not delay in submitting your ballot. Please note that only current financial members of the WSA are allowed to participate in this vote. Members have been emailed directly with instructions on how to cast their ballot, if you have not received instructions about voting please contact the WSA Secretary ASAP < wsa.secretary@gmail.com >.

The constant dribble of rain did not dampen (pun totally intended) the atmosphere as the seagrass pilgrims gathered at the conference venue to talk shop. Old ties were re-affirmed and new ones forged over a buzz of excitement – and we were only at registration!

After receiving the welcome pack which includes a conference t-shirt – which many have deemed a godsend (a few of us under-packed) – and paid our dues (I for one, thoroughly shortchanged the committee when making a bank transfer), we were herded downstairs for the first plenary of the conference where Jim Fourqurean gave us an overview of carbon storage in seagrass meadows and what the latest advances are on the issue of blue carbon. Afterwards, live music and drinks fueled the mingling and discussions into the early evening.

We hit the ground running on Day 2 of the conference with a series of interesting talks starting with our second plenary speaker, Margareth Copertino, who gave us an overview of the status of seagrass research in Brazil. This was followed by the first oral session on management, followed by oral session 2 on disturbance, recovery and mitigation.

After lunch we had a productive workshop session on Seagrass and Blue Carbon. I was in the Economics of Blue Carbon group and there was a lively discussion, led by Kate O’Brien, who kept us on track with identifying the key issues. The group then re-convened to present the outcomes of their group discussions.

The organizing committee treated us to a Pizza night for the hard work we put in on the first full day and we were also treated to a slide show of photo contributions of seagrass and seagrass researchers. That’s a wrap up of Day 1 & 2, stay tuned for the field trip updates!

We would like to invite all members of the World Seagrass Association to submit articles for a WSA special issue of the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin titled “Seagrass meadows in a globally changing environment”.

A description of the special issue and its proposed content is listed below.

The special issue will be edited by myself, Rob Coles and Mike van Keulen. All submissions would need to be completed by the end of February, and we encourage potential authors to submit proposed titles (with a brief summary) to us asap.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Kind regards,
Richard Unsworth
Vice-President, WSA Inc.


Marine Pollution Bulletin Special Issue
Seagrass meadows in a globally changing environment
Proposed Editors: Richard Unsworth, Rob Coles, Mike Van Keulen
Overview
Seagrass meadows are valuable ecosystem service providers that may have a greater resilience to future environmental change than many marine habitats. Unfortunately these habitats of high functional importance are now being lost globally at an unprecedented rate, with water quality and other localised stressors putting their future viability in doubt. It is therefore critical that we learn more about the interactions between seagrass meadows and future environmental change in the anthropocene. This needs to be with particular reference to the consequences of poor water quality on ecosystem resilience and the effects of change on trophic interactions within the food web. Understanding and predicting the response of seagrass meadows to future environmental change requires an understanding of the natural long-term drivers of change and how these are currently influenced by anthropogenic stress. Conservation management of coastal and marine ecosystems now and in the future requires increased knowledge of how seagrass meadows respond to environmental change, and how they can be managed to be resilient to these changes. The proposed special issue aims to further enhance this knowledge by bringing together global expertise across this field and will solicit primary research and review articles. The proposed special issue would be in collaboration with the World Seagrass Association and would cover the following areas:

• Understanding seagrass ecosystem resilience and adaptations in a globally changing environment
• The impact of future climate on trophic interactions and habitat value within the seagrass food web
• Quantifying and modelling the carbon sequestration capacity of seagrass meadows
• Climate and ocean acidifications interactions with water quality and its impact on seagrass
• Drivers of change within seagrass landscapes, and approaches to quantifying and modelling those drivers
• Understanding risk in the management of seagrass meadows
• Socio-economic consequences of environmental change to seagrass
• Indigenous communities and seagrass conservation

Proposed timetable:
Invitation to submit articles: September 2012
Article submission deadline: February 2013
Reviews complete: July 2013
Estimated special issue publication Sept 2013

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Photos and text by Rosemary Mc Closkey

I am a student from Swansea University and I am currently undertaking a month of field work for my Master’s thesis, where I am studying juvenile fish populations in a Zostera marina seagrass meadow in Porth Dinllaen on the Llŷn peninsula, North Wales. My data collection has been carried out alongside and with the support of an on-going collaborative project between SEACAMS and the National Trust here in Wales.

Seagrass bed at Porth Dinllaen on low water

I first visited the site with SEACAMS at the end of April this year to assist with their fish monitoring work and to assess some scarring of the bed caused by moorings in the bay. This also allowed me to get the ‘lay of the land’ so to speak, and to design the methodology for my project. I joined SEACAMS once more in June to carry out more work and to run trials on some small fish traps designed to catch shrimp and small fish. Unfortunately these yielded very little success and as I had yet to visit this site on the low spring tides, I was keen to return for an extended period so I could get a real feel for the site and to adjust my method.  Myself and a field assistant returned to Porth Dinllaen at the start of August with a smaller, lighter seine net with a finer mesh than that which I had used with SEACAMS in April and June. These nets seem to be working successfully and selecting the age/size classes that I wanted.

My research thus far is focused on assessing sites of varying complexity and heterogeneity within the meadow in order to elucidate whether small-scale variations within the bed affects species assemblages. During the 1^st week of August, low water on spring tide caused the bed to become exposed, thus allowing some assistants and myself to carry out a habitat assessment.

Carrying out habitat assessment on the Z. marina bed

Plots of 36m² were assessed and permanently marked out using marker pegs and GPS. Detailed photographs were also taken. I was initially skeptical as to whether or not the heavy duty orange pegs I had used to mark out the plots would last, but I was pleasantly surprised to see most of them have. They have proven very useful for relocating each plot. The main working hazard in that respect has been young kids stealing them for their sandcastles!

I have fished within each of the plots using an 8m beach seine net to assess the dominant species and size classes of juvenile fish. Initially I wasn’t sure whether I would catch the same species that were caught in the much larger seine net. I have found that I am catching all the same species as before, however the majority are juveniles, small fish and shrimps. The larger, fast moving finfish and bigger predators seem to evade the smaller net! The majority of the fish caught were wrasses, gobies, dragonets, sea scorpions, plaice, sticklebacks and pollack. We have also caught the slightly more elusive species such as little cuttlefish and pipefish.

Greater pipefish (Syngnathus acus). One of the many beautiful creatures in the Porth Dinllaen seagrass bed.

I plan to stay one more week at this beautiful location to collect some more fishing data. Getting access to the site for this length of time has been a real joy and I have been very fortunate to be able to carry out extended field work of this nature for my masters project. I look forward to returning to Swansea in order to write up my results and my thesis.

For more information on The National Trust: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/
For more information on SEACAMS: http://www.swan.ac.uk/seacams/

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Every three years, I tell myself “this is the last time”, and then every time I change my mind. I have been involved in the organisation of three Mediterranean Seagrass Workshops (MSW), and the effort and time dedication are worthwhile every time. On May 24, I got on a plane and soon after touched down for the first time in Morocco. True enough, conferences always take us to new places, meet new people, experience new cultures. After a couple of days in a confusing, overwhelming and crowded Marrakech, we got on a bus to Essaouira, where the MSW would be held. The road to Marrakech is pulverous, but with stunning landscapes, changing from the arid land of central Morocco to the olive trees and the green pastures of the Atlantic coastline. The landscape is intermittent with local agriculture fields, some times scattered by grazing goats and sleepy donkeys.

Essaouira: La ville du vent

Essaouira, we would soon discover is “la ville du vent” and for good reason. The wind blows 24/7 over the long stretch of beach, that goes as far as the eye can see. On Monday afternoon (May 28) the participants start trickling in from all directions; this year we have a smaller group than usual, but it’s great to see some of the same people that carry on the legacy, since the first workshop in 2006. Tuesday morning, we are ready to begin. The MSW has always been a great opportunity to maintain a Mediterranean network of seagrass scientists and managers. Only few people from the region attend the global ISBWs and other conferences are often a potpuorri of themes, topics, fields. So we stick we our own seagrass community, at least every once in a while!

Participants greeting each other at the MSW

The other interesting thing, to me at least, is that the MSW is an indicator of Mediterranean seagrass research: the majority of talks generally reflects the trends of what Mediterranean seagrassers are up to, what funding is available and what large processes are underway. I’ll give you examples. In 2009, on the beautiful island of Hvar (in Croatia) a lot of the presented work was focused on the Water Framework Directive, which at that time, the European Union was implementing for the monitoring of European waters. I tell you “monitoring” and “intercalibration” were the key words in those days. This year, no single presentation talked about “intercalibration” – that is clearly done and over with, but climate change is now the word on everyone’s lips.

The fact that conferences take us to amazing places is not just a nice treat. It also gives the opportunity of hosting countries (and their neighboughrs) to increase the representation and participation of their scientists. Given that  European conferences don’t often see a good deal of North African participants, we were particularly happy to see a larger delegation from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Most of us had to dust off our french and start talking. But as usual, these efforts (not just improving language skills) pay off. New collaborations are fostered at each MSW, new partnerships, new ideas and projects. But most importantly new friendships.

Participants of MSW 2012

In pure Mediterranean style, long lunches in front of delicious cous-cous, afternoon chats with posters and swimming pool gatherings make the difference. This is what keeps the community together. And every time, new students, new members, new countries (even the USA and Australia) participate. We were through four days pretty quickly and it was time to get home. Except that the bus back to Marrakech broke and left us stranded in the middle of nowhere under a burning sun. One more story to tell next time. We look forward to the next MSW, each of them has a different flavour and its own character. As they say in Morocco “à la prochaine, inshAllah”.

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By Elizabeth “Z” Lacey

During my own Ph.D. research for the past five years, I have been doing long-term monitoring of the over 18,000 km² of seagrass beds in south Florida as part of the ongoing research in the Fourqurean Seagrass Ecosystems Research Lab (http://www2.fiu.edu/~seagrass/).  Seagrass species present include: Manatee grass Syringodium filiforme, Turtle grassThalassia testudinum, Shoal grass Halodule wrightii, Widgeon grass Ruppia maritima, Johnson’s seagrass Halophila johnsonii, Paddle grass H. decipiens and Star grass H. englemanni.  This is a similar list to the one Brooke Landry reported during her vacation in the Bahamas in a previous blog post.  Compared to the 50-60 seagrass species possible, our diversity is relatively low.  With long-term data on seagrass density and nutrient content, Dr. Jim Fourqurean and fellow researchers are able to determine how these seagrass beds are changing over time and what these changes may indicate for overall seagrass bed health.

 FKNMS permanent seagrass monitoring sites (sites located in the Dry Tortugas are not shown).

 Long-term monitoring site Photo by N. Blinick.

 My dive buddy Kirk Gastrich and I complete a seagrass survey at one of the long-term monitoring sites.  Photo by N. Blinick.

Changes in seagrass beds will also have important impacts to the diversity of species that use them for habitat, feeding grounds, refuge and as an important corridor between mangrove and coral reef habitats.  While our seagrass diversity may be limited, there are a multitude of important fish, crustacean and other species supported within these ecosystems.  It is estimated that Florida seagrass beds provide ecological services worth over $40 billion US each year (http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/news/articles/2011/1103_Seagrass.htm).  In addition to the photos of stingrays and sea turtles I posted in my other World Seagrass Association blog entry about my work in Akumal, Mexico, there are a wide diversity of animals that can be seen on any given dive in the seagrass beds of South Florida.  But rather than bore you with my prose, why don’t I let the pictures speak 1,000 words (or many thousands when it comes to the number of diverse species supported in tropical seagrass beds!).

 Caribbean Reef Squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea). Photo by Captain K. Gastrich.

 Barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) Photo by Z. Lacey

 Grouper, an important commercial species, spotted in the seagrass bed.  Photo by J. Sweatman

 Sea urchin using turtle and manatee grass to camouflage itself in the seagrass bed. Photo by Z. Lacey

Octopus inside a pipe positioned in the seagrass bed to hold a channel marker—you never know what you’ll find when you are observant while snorkeling in a seagrass bed! Photo by Z. Lacey

            These photos are just a few of the many, MANY species that can be found in Florida seagrass beds.  On a recent field trip with my Introduction to Marine Biology students at Florida International University, we caught other animals like moray eels, batfish and sea robins!  In honor of today being International Day for Biodiversity, I invite you to get into the water and spend some time in the seagrass beds.  If you aren’t lucky enough to live near some of these magical ecosystems, then on next vacation you have I invite you to head on down to the Florida Keys and enjoy the diversity of life that seagrass beds support.  These are the things that keep me excited about working in marine ecosystems as I prepare to defend my Ph.D. in just a few short weeks!