Multiple paternity, fertilization success, and male quality: Mating system variation in the eelgrass, .

Genetic diversity can modulate a population's response to a changing environment and plays a critical role in its ecological function. While multiple processes act to maintain genetic diversity, sexual reproduction remains the primary driving force. Eelgrass () is an important habitat-forming species found in temperate coastal ecosystems across the globe.

A report card approach to describe temporal and spatial trends in parameters for coastal seagrass habitats.

Report cards that are designed to monitor environmental trends have the potential to provide a powerful communication tool because they are easy to understand and accessible to the general public, scientists, managers and policy makers. Given this functionality, they are increasingly popular in marine ecosystem reporting. We describe a report card method for seagrass that incorporates spatial and temporal variability in three metrics-meadow area, species and biomass-developed using long-term (greater than 10 years) monitoring data.

Tropical cyclone impacts on seagrass-associated fishes in a temperate-subtropical estuary.

Major storms can alter coastal ecosystems in several direct and indirect ways including habitat destruction, stormwater-related water quality degradation, and organism mortality. From 2010-2020, ten tropical cyclones impacted coastal North Carolina, providing an opportunity to explore ecosystem responses across multiple storms. Using monthly trawl and contemporaneous seagrass surveys conducted in Back Sound, NC, we evaluated how cyclones may affect the nursery role of shallow-water biogenic habitats by examining seagrass-associated fish responses within a temperate-subtropical estuary.

Direct liquid extraction surface analysis mass spectrometry of cell wall lipids from mycobacteria: Salt additives for decreased spectral complexity.

Rationale: Lipids are important mycobacterium cell wall constituents; changes are linked with drug resistance. Liquid extraction surface analysis (LESA) enables direct sampling in a highly sensitive manner. Here we describe protocols for the analysis of lipids from bacterial colonies.

Global challenges for seagrass conservation.

Seagrasses, flowering marine plants that form underwater meadows, play a significant global role in supporting food security, mitigating climate change and supporting biodiversity. Although progress is being made to conserve seagrass meadows in select areas, most meadows remain under significant pressure resulting in a decline in meadow condition and loss of function. Effective management strategies need to be implemented to reverse seagrass loss and enhance their fundamental role in coastal ocean habitats.

The Role of Herbivory in Structuring Tropical Seagrass Ecosystem Service Delivery.

Seagrass meadows support key ecosystem services, via provision of food directly for herbivores, and indirectly to their predators. The importance of herbivores in seagrass meadows has been well-documented, but the links between food webs and ecosystem services in seagrass meadows have not previously been made explicit. Herbivores interact with ecosystem services - including carbon sequestration, cultural values, and coastal protection.

Long distance biotic dispersal of tropical seagrass seeds by marine mega-herbivores.

Terrestrial plants use an array of animals as vectors for dispersal, however little is known of biotic dispersal of marine angiosperms such as seagrasses. Our study in the Great Barrier Reef confirms for the first time that dugongs (Dugong dugon) and green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) assist seagrass dispersal. We demonstrate that these marine mega-herbivores consume and pass in faecal matter viable seeds for at least three seagrass species (Zostera muelleri, Halodule uninervis and Halophila decipiens).

Seed germination in a southern Australian temperate seagrass.

In a series of experiments, seeds from a temperate seagrass species, collected in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia were exposed to a range of salinities (20 PSU pulse/no pulse, 25 PSU, 30 PSU, 35 PSU), temperatures (13 °C, 17 °C, 22 °C), burial depths (0 cm, 1 cm, 2 cm) and site specific sediment characteristics (fine, medium, coarse) to quantify their impacts on germination rate and maximum overall germination. In southern Australia the seagrass is a common subtidal species; however, little is known about the factors that affect seed germination which is a potential limiting factor in meadow resilience to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Overall seed germination was low (<20%) with germination decreasing to <10% when seeds were placed in the sediment.

Declines of seagrasses in a tropical harbour, North Queensland, Australia, are not the result of a single event.

A recent paper inferred that all seagrass in Cairns Harbour, tropical north-eastern Australia, had undergone 'complete and catastrophic loss' as a result of tropical cyclone Yasi in 2011. While we agree with the concern expressed, we would like to correct the suggestion that the declines were the result of a single climatic event and that all seagrass in Cairns Harbour were lost. Recent survey data and trend analysis from an on-ground monitoring program show that seagrasses in Cairns Harbour do remain, albeit at low levels, and the decline in seagrasses occurred over several years with cyclone Yasi having little additional impact.