Over a decade monitoring Fiji's seagrass condition demonstrates resilience to anthropogenic pressures and extreme climate events

MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN

卷:160

Article

McKenzie, Len J.^1,2  Yoshida, Rudi L.^1,3 

[1] James Cook Univ, Ctr Trop Water & Aquat Ecosyst Res TropWATER, Cairns, Qld 4870, Australia

[2] Seagrass Watch, Cairns, Qld 4870, Australia

[3] SeagrassFutures Fiji, Maafu St, Suva, Fiji

关键词: Seagrass;    Habitats;    Threats;    Resilience;    Monitoring;    Management;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111636

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Seagrass are an important marine ecosystem of the Fiji Islands. We confirm six seagrass species from the archipelago and defined five broad categories of seagrass habitat. We report, with high confidence, seagrass meadows covering 59.19 km(2) of Fiji's shallow water habitats from literature and this study. Long-term monitoring of seagrass abundance, species composition, and seed banks at eight sentinel sites, found no long-term trends. Examination of key attributes that affect seagrass resilience identified meadows as predominately enduring and dominated by opportunistic species which had moderate physiological resistance, and high recovery capacity. We examined threats to Fiji's seagrass meadows from extreme climatic events and anthropogenic activities using a suite of indicators, identifying water quality as a major pressure. Based on these findings, we assessed existing protections in Fiji afforded to seagrass and their services. This understanding will help to better manage for seagrass resilience and focus future seagrass research in Fiji.

【 授权许可】

Free