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The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles

Benjamin L. Jones, Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo

Royal Society Open Science, Volume: 3, Start page: 150596

Swansea University Author: Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1098/rsos.150596

Abstract

Seagrass ecosystems face widespread threat from reduced water quality, coastal development and poor land use. In recent decades, their distribution has declined rapidly, and in the British Isles, this loss is thought to have been extensive. Given increasing knowledge of how these ecosystems support...

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Published in: Royal Society Open Science
Published: 2016
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa26530
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first_indexed 2016-03-02T01:58:27Z
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spelling 2016-12-07T17:05:35.4678258 v2 26530 2016-03-01 The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f 0000-0003-0036-9724 Richard Unsworth Richard Unsworth true false 2016-03-01 SBI Seagrass ecosystems face widespread threat from reduced water quality, coastal development and poor land use. In recent decades, their distribution has declined rapidly, and in the British Isles, this loss is thought to have been extensive. Given increasing knowledge of how these ecosystems support fisheries production, the understanding of their potential rapid loss, and the difficulty in restoring them, it is vital we develop an understanding of the risks they are under, so that management actions can be developed accordingly. Developing an understanding of their environmental status and condition is therefore critical to their long-term management. This study provided, to our knowledge, the first examination of the environmental health of seagrass meadows around the British Isles. This study used a bioindicator approach and involved collecting data on seagrass density and morphology alongside analysis of leaf biochemistry. Our study provides, to the best of our knowledge, the first strong quantitative evidence that seagrass meadows of the British Isles are mostly in poor condition in comparison with global averages, with tissue nitrogen levels 75% higher than global values. Such poor status places their long-term resilience in doubt. Elemental nutrient concentrations and morphological change suggest conditions of excess nitrogen and probable low light, placing many of the meadows sampled in a perilous state, although others, situated away from human populations were perceived to be healthy. Although some sites were of a high environmental health, all sites were considered at risk from anthropogenic impacts, particularly poor water quality and boating-based disturbances. The findings of this study provide a warning of the need to take action, with respect to water quality and disturbance, to prevent the further loss and degradation of these systems across the British Isles. Journal Article Royal Society Open Science 3 150596 seagrass, marine, conservation, ecology, fisheries 31 1 2016 2016-01-31 10.1098/rsos.150596 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University 2016-12-07T17:05:35.4678258 2016-03-01T13:51:41.5519024 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Benjamin L. Jones 1 Richard Unsworth 0000-0003-0036-9724 2 0026530-25102016163405.pdf JonesUnsworthRSOSPerilousstate.pdf 2016-10-25T16:34:05.4200000 Output 1139058 application/pdf Version of Record true 2016-10-25T00:00:00.0000000 Copyright 2016 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. true
title The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles
spellingShingle The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles
Richard Unsworth
title_short The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles
title_full The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles
title_fullStr The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles
title_full_unstemmed The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles
title_sort The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles
author_id_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f
author_id_fullname_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f_***_Richard Unsworth
author Richard Unsworth
author2 Benjamin L. Jones
Richard Unsworth
format Journal article
container_title Royal Society Open Science
container_volume 3
container_start_page 150596
publishDate 2016
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.1098/rsos.150596
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
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description Seagrass ecosystems face widespread threat from reduced water quality, coastal development and poor land use. In recent decades, their distribution has declined rapidly, and in the British Isles, this loss is thought to have been extensive. Given increasing knowledge of how these ecosystems support fisheries production, the understanding of their potential rapid loss, and the difficulty in restoring them, it is vital we develop an understanding of the risks they are under, so that management actions can be developed accordingly. Developing an understanding of their environmental status and condition is therefore critical to their long-term management. This study provided, to our knowledge, the first examination of the environmental health of seagrass meadows around the British Isles. This study used a bioindicator approach and involved collecting data on seagrass density and morphology alongside analysis of leaf biochemistry. Our study provides, to the best of our knowledge, the first strong quantitative evidence that seagrass meadows of the British Isles are mostly in poor condition in comparison with global averages, with tissue nitrogen levels 75% higher than global values. Such poor status places their long-term resilience in doubt. Elemental nutrient concentrations and morphological change suggest conditions of excess nitrogen and probable low light, placing many of the meadows sampled in a perilous state, although others, situated away from human populations were perceived to be healthy. Although some sites were of a high environmental health, all sites were considered at risk from anthropogenic impacts, particularly poor water quality and boating-based disturbances. The findings of this study provide a warning of the need to take action, with respect to water quality and disturbance, to prevent the further loss and degradation of these systems across the British Isles.
published_date 2016-01-31T03:31:50Z
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