Seagrass meadows are highly productive ecosystems that provide ecosystem services to the coastal zone but are declining globally, particularly due to anthropogenic activities that reduce the quantity of light reaching seagrasses, such as dredging, river discharge and eutrophication. Light quality (the spectral composition of the light) is also altered by these anthropogenic stressors as the dif...

Recent findings have shown that photosynthesis in the skin of the seed of Posidonia oceanica enhances seedling growth. The seagrass genus Posidonia is found only in two distant parts of the world, the Mediterranean Sea and southern Australia. This fact led us to question whether the acquisition of this novel mechanism in the evolution of this seagrass was a pre-adaptation prior to geological is...

Three case studies involving two temperate Australian seagrass species – Pondweed (Ruppia tuberosa) and Ribbon Weed (Posidonia australis) highlight different approaches to their restoration. Seeds rhizomes were used in three collaborative programmes promote new scale up restoration outcomes.

Sedimentation that leads to periodic, and often prolonged, burial events is becoming more common on the world's coastlines as human populations expand and create urbanised marine environments. Different seagrass species react differently to sediment burial but many species in the southern hemisphere are yet to be examined. How seagrasses react to burial has restoration implications. There is a ...

Seagrasses of the genus Posidonia can form an irregular seascape due to erosional processes exposing thick walls of organic matter-rich soils. However, little is known about the location and characteristics of these particular formations. Here we provide comprehensive estimates of organic carbon (Corg) storage in Posidonia oceanica and Posidonia australismeadows, while providing insight into th...

Caulerpa racemosa is a tropical green alga introduced into the Mediterranean as an immigrant from the Red Sea which has successfully fast-spread in the south-eastern and in the north-western part of the basin. C. racemosa occurs mostly in shallow but also in deep subtidal habitats colonising hard and soft substrata where turfs, erect algae and even seagrasses are present with the potential to p...

Seagrasses are declining globally, and deeper understanding is needed on the recruitment potential and distribution of new populations for many threatened species to support conservation planning in the face of climate change. Recruitment of Posidonia oceanica, a threatened seagrass endemic to the Mediterranean, has long been considered rare due to infrequent flowering, but mounting evidence de...

Under future increased CO2 concentrations, seagrasses are predicted to perform better as a result of increased photosynthesis, but the effects in carbon balance and growth are unclear and remain unexplored for early life stages such as seedlings, which allow plant dispersal and provide the potential for adaptation under changing environmental conditions. Furthermore, the outcome of the concomit...

Seed predation is an important process governing the dynamics of many plant populations. We assessed seed mortality due to predation in the seagrass Posidonia australis by identifying predators and quantifying predation events using underwater video cameras, laboratory and field observations, and field tethering experiments in shallow-water habitats off Rottnest Island, Western Australia in 200...

Seagrass meadows rank amongst the most productive ecosystems on Earth, growing along tropical and temperate coasts, where they have important structural and biogeochemical functions (Hemminga & Duarte 2000). Seagrasses are clonal plants, which expand into new areas vegetatively by adding modules produced by the meristems located at the rhizome apices, rendering seagrass demographics and product...