Authors
Robert J Orth, Tim JB Carruthers, William C Dennison, Carlos M Duarte, James W Fourqurean, Kenneth L Heck, A Randall Hughes, Gary A Kendrick, W Judson Kenworthy, Suzanne Olyarnik, Frederick T Short, Michelle Waycott, Susan L Williams
Publication date
2006/12/1
Journal
Bioscience
Volume
56
Issue
12
Pages
987-996
Publisher
American Institute of Biological Sciences
Description
Seagrasses, marine flowering plants, have a long evolutionary history but are now challenged with rapid environmental changes as a result of coastal human population pressures. Seagrasses provide key ecological services, including organic carbon production and export, nutrient cycling, sediment stabilization, enhanced biodiversity, and trophic transfers to adjacent habitats in tropical and temperate regions. They also serve as “coastal canaries,” global biological sentinels of increasing anthropogenic influences in coastal ecosystems, with large-scale losses reported worldwide. Multiple stressors, including sediment and nutrient runoff, physical disturbance, invasive species, disease, commercial fishing practices, aquaculture, overgrazing, algal blooms, and global warming, cause seagrass declines at scales of square meters to hundreds of square kilometers. Reported seagrass losses have led to increased …
Total citations
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Scholar articles
RJ Orth, TJB Carruthers, WC Dennison, CM Duarte… - Bioscience, 2006