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Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management

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A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 34393

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lina Mtwana Nordlund

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Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University. P.O. Box 256, 75105 Uppsala, Sweden
Interests: sustainability; sustainable development; seagrass; fisheries; social–ecological systems; natural resource management; ecosystem services; transdisciplinary research

Dr. Jonathan S. Lefcheck

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Guest Editor

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 647 Contees Wharf Rd, Edgewater, MD 21037, USA
Interests: community ecology; biodiversity; seagrass; invertebrates; fish; grazing; biostatistics

Dr. Salomão Bandeira

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Guest Editor

Department of Biological Sciences, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo 0100, Mozambique
Interests: marine botany; biodiversity; seagrass structure; seagrass and mangrove restoration; governance

Dr. Stacey M. Trevathan-Tackett

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Guest Editor

Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia
Interests: blue carbon; biogeochemistry; microbial ecology; seagrass wasting disease; Labyrinthula; microbiome; biochemistry; decomposition

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Seagrasses are increasingly recognized as being of significant value to nature and society. We now understand that they form critical nurseries for juvenile fishes and invertebrates, are an important component of the global carbon cycle, and increase water quality and protect our shores. Recently, the United Nations declared the decade on both Ocean Sustainability and on Ecosystem Restoration to promote the engagement of researchers and citizens on conserving and restoring seagrasses and other foundational species. Similarly, the Convention on Biological Diversity developed a post-2020 global biodiversity framework to ensure that the 2050 vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled and has designated seagrasses, corals, mangroves, and other coastal habitats as critical to the preservation of biodiversity. Uniting these efforts—promoting and conserving submersed aquatic vegetation to enhance biodiversity—is, therefore, a key frontier in the coming decade.

For this Special Issue, we invite submissions that elaborate on the value of seagrass ecosystems for coastal biodiversity with special relevance to governance and management. Topics may include but are not limited to conservation, restoration, fisheries, blue carbon, invasive species, disease, and microbiome. We encourage theoretical or empirical investigations on all aspects of seagrass ecosystem-associated biodiversity, including taxonomic, compositional, functional, and/or phylogenetic, and from all scales, from local to global—and how this biodiversity is relevant for governance and management of seagrass ecosystems. We also encourage submissions of studies concerning governance and management that consider seagrass ecosystem-associated biodiversity as well as the diversity of seagrass ecosystem services. A better understanding of seagrass diversity and the diversity of associated flora and fauna, as well as how seagrass ecosystems are governed/managed, will lead to improved decision making and greater success towards international goals to enhance and restore coastal functioning and biodiversity. We are looking forward to your submission on any topic dealing with seagrass ecosystem-associated biodiversity and its governance and/or management.

Dr. Lina Mtwana Nordlund
Dr. Jonathan S. Lefcheck
Dr. Salomão Bandeira
Dr. Stacey M. Trevathan-Tackett
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

seagrass
submerged aquatic vegetation
seascape, species and genetic diversity
invertebrate and fish assemblages
microbiome
ecology
invasive species
disease
blue carbon
fisheries
connectivity
habitat restoration
ecosystem services
conservation
management
governance

Published Papers (10 papers)

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19 pages, 8008 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Habitat Provision and Erosion Are Influenced by Seagrass Meadow Complexity: A Seascape Perspective

by Giulia Ferretto, Adriana Vergés, Alistair G. B. Poore, Tim M. Glasby and Kingsley J. Griffin

Diversity 2023, 15(2), 125; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15020125 - 17 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2730

Abstract

Habitat complexity plays a critical role in shaping biotic assemblages and ecosystem processes. While the impacts of large differences in habitat complexity are often well understood, we know less about how subtle differences in structure affect key ecosystem functions or properties such as biodiversity and biomass. The late-successional seagrass Posidonia australis creates vital habitat for diverse fauna in temperate Australia. Long-term human impacts have led to the decline of P. australis in some estuaries of eastern Australia, where it is now classified as an endangered ecological community. We examined the influence of P. australis structural complexity at small (seagrass density) and large (meadow fragmentation) spatial scales on fish and epifauna communities, predation and sediment erosion. Fine-scale spatially balanced sampling was evenly distributed across a suite of environmental covariates within six estuaries in eastern Australia using the Generalised Random Tessellation Structures approach. We found reduced erosion in areas with higher P. australis density, greater abundance of fish in more fragmented areas and higher fish richness in vegetated areas further from patch edges. The abundance of epifauna and fish, and fish species richness were higher in areas with lower seagrass density (seagrass density did not correlate with distance to patch edge). These findings can inform seagrass restoration efforts by identifying meadow characteristics that influence ecological functions and processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management)

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24 pages, 4897 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Seagrasses of West Africa: New Discoveries, Distribution Limits and Prospects for Management

by Mohamed Ahmed Sidi Cheikh, Salomão Bandeira, Seydouba Soumah, Gnilane Diouf, Elisabeth Mayé Diouf, Omar Sanneh, Noelo Cardoso, Abubacarr Kujabie, Melissa Ndure, Lynette John, Lisdália Moreira, Zofia Radwan, Iderlindo Santos, Adam Ceesay, Marco Vinaccia and Maria Potouroglou

Diversity 2023, 15(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15010005 - 21 Dec 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3073

Abstract

The onset of a major seagrass initiative in West Africa enabled important seagrass discoveries in several countries, in one of the least documented seagrass regions in the world. Four seagrass species occur in western Africa, Cymodocea nodosa, Halodule wrightii, Ruppia maritima and Zostera noltei. An area of about 62,108 ha of seagrasses was documented in the studied region comprising seven countries: Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cabo Verde. Extensive meadows of Zostera noltei were recorded for the first time at Saloum Delta, Senegal, which represents the new southernmost distribution limit of this species. This paper also describes the seagrass morphology for some study areas and explores the main stressors to seagrasses as well as conservation initiatives to protect these newly documented meadows in West Africa. The produced information and maps serve as a starting point for researchers and managers to monitor temporal and spatial changes in the meadows’ extent, health and condition as an efficient management tool. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management)

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25 pages, 3923 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Diversity and Variation of Epiphytic Diatoms on Ruppia maritima L., Related to Anthropogenic Impact in an Estuary in Southern Brazil

by Vanessa Corrêa da Rosa and Margareth Copertino

Diversity 2022, 14(10), 787; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14100787 - 22 Sep 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2023

Abstract

Knowledge about the diversity and spatiotemporal variability of epiphytic diatom communities in estuarine meadows has great relevance for coastal ecology and, thus, contributes to understanding the impact of natural and anthropogenic changes on seagrass meadows. The community of epiphytic diatoms in Ruppia maritima L. meadows was investigated in two environments with different levels of anthropogenic impact and nutrient loads. Both impacted and non-impacted meadows had similar conditions in terms of water depth, temperature and transparency but distinct nutrient loads and salinity ranges. A total of 159 diatom taxa were found on Ruppia maritima leaves during the monitoring period, including freshwater (30.8%), marine (25.1%), brackish (9.4%) and cosmopolitan (8.8%) taxa. The most abundant species were C. placentula, T. tabulata, M. pumila and T. fasciculata, in addition to A. tenuissimus, C. adhaerens and M. moniliformis. Although present in both sites, C. placentula and T. tabulata were the dominant species in the impacted site. We found that 32% of the taxa were exclusive to the non-impacted site, 23% to the impacted site and 45% were common to both sites. The study sites showed marked differences in community attributes; i.e., higher richness, diversity and equitability and lower dominance were found in the non-impacted site, which is distant from anthropogenic sources of domestic and industrial sewage and has low concentrations of dissolved N and P in water and low values of sediment organic matter. Nutrient concentration and salinity were the main factors behind the spatial and temporal variability in the structure of the epiphytic community when all other environmental variables were similar (water depth, temperature, transparency and host plant). The influence of temperature and salinity on community structure was site-dependent. This study revealed the high richness and diversity of epiphytic diatoms in the meadows of the Patos Lagoon estuary (PLE) and the high spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the communities, and it shows the potential of epiphytic community studies for the assessment of environmental quality in seagrass meadow habitats. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management)

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11 pages, 1282 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predator-Induced Nocturnal Benthic Emergence: Field and Experimental Evidence for an Unknown Behavioral Escape Mechanism along the Coral Reef–Seagrass Interface

by Derrick C. Blackmon and John F. Valentine

Diversity 2022, 14(9), 762; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14090762 - 15 Sep 2022

Viewed by 1284

Abstract

Previously, using plankton tows, and emergence and settlement traps, we documented persistent widespread nocturnal emergence, and planktonic redistribution, of benthic macroinvertebrates along the coral reef–seagrass interface at two geographically separated locations. We also documented that emergence intensity varies with distance from the reef, leading us to hypothesize that the spatial pattern of emergence is determined by the foraging patterns of nocturnally active, bottom-feeding, mid-level consumers (mainly grunts). In this second study, we coupled those previously published data with nocturnal fish surveys concurrently conducted along belt transects placed at the same locations as the emergence trap collections, and a controlled laboratory experiment, to test this hypothesis. The results of these analyses find that variability in the density of nocturnally active, bottom-feeding fish is strongly positively correlated with emergence intensity, regardless of site or season. Results from the laboratory experiments show that nocturnal invertebrate emergence is significantly higher in the presence of one bottom-feeding fish (the blue-striped grunt Haemulon sciurus) than in microcosms that do not contain this predator. Overall, this study shows that such processes may explain how benthic prey can avoid capture by nocturnally active, bottom-feeding predators and persist in the predator-rich seagrass habitats that surround coral reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This study also points out the need to consider nocturnal processes when studying seagrass biodiversity in a predator-rich environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management)

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12 pages, 2090 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Seasonal Occurrence and Relative Abundance of Marine Fish Larval Families over Healthy and Degraded Seagrass Beds in Coastal Kenya

by James M. Mwaluma, Gladys M. Okemwa, Alphine M. Mboga, Noah Ngisiange, Monika Winder, Margareth S. Kyewalyanga, Joseph Kilonzo and Immaculate M. Kinyua

Diversity 2022, 14(9), 730; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14090730 - 05 Sep 2022

Viewed by 1770

Abstract

Seagrass beds provide critical nursery habitats and spawning grounds for new generations of fish. The habitats are under threat from human activities and climate change, and with that, an important ocean service is lost that limits fish production. The present study investigates patterns in the larval occurrence and abundance in seagrass meadows at two locations with varying degrees of seagrass fragmentation. Monthly ichthyoplankton sampling was conducted during the northeast monsoon (NEM) and southeast monsoon (SEM) seasons in 2019 and 2020. A total of 42 larval fish families belonging to 37 genera and 21 species were identified. Dominant families were Labridae (29.5%), Blenniidae (28.7%), Gobiidae (26.0%), Engraulidae (23.3%) and Scaridae (22.3%). Canonical Correspondence Analysis and regression analysis revealed water temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH as the most important abiotic variables driving taxonomic composition of larval assemblages, while zooplankton and chlorophyll-a were the most important biotic factors. Fish larvae were more abundant in healthy seagrass habitats as compared to degraded ones. However, despite some loss in functionality, the degraded sites equally played a role in supporting some species, including Gobiidae and Blenniidae. Seasonality influenced larval abundance at the two sites, with a peak in mean abundance coinciding with the NEM season. Interannual variability in fish larval abundance was observed at both sites, indicating that factors controlling larval production varied between the years. This study demonstrates the important role of seagrass meadows in the replenishment of fish stocks and supportive evidence for their management and conservation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management)

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19 pages, 1873 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Contribution of Subtidal Seagrass Meadows to the Total Carbon Stocks of Gazi Bay, Kenya

by Derrick Joannes Omollo, Virginia Wangeci Wang’ondu, Michael Njoroge Githaiga, Daniel Gorman and James Gitundu Kairo

Diversity 2022, 14(8), 646; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14080646 - 11 Aug 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2480

Abstract

Seagrass beds occur globally in both intertidal and subtidal zones within shallow marine environments, such as bays and estuaries. These important ecosystems support fisheries production, attenuate strong wave energies, support human livelihoods and sequester large amounts of CO₂ that may help mitigate the effects of climate change. At present, there is increased global interest in understanding how these ecosystems could help alleviate the challenges likely to face humanity and the environment into the future. Unlike other blue carbon ecosystems, i.e., mangroves and saltmarshes, seagrasses are less understood, especially regarding their contribution to the carbon dynamics. This is particularly true in regions with less attention and limited resources. Paucity of information is even more relevant for the subtidal meadows that are less accessible. In Kenya, much of the available information on seagrasses comes from Gazi Bay, where the focus has been on the extensive intertidal meadows. As is the case with other regions, there remains a paucity of information on subtidal meadows. This limits our understanding of the overall contribution of seagrasses in carbon capture and storage. This study provides the first assessment of the species composition and variation in carbon storage capacity of subtidal seagrass meadows within Gazi Bay. Nine seagrass species, comprising of Cymodocea rotundata, Cymodocea serrulata, Enhalus acoroides, Halodule uninervis, Halophila ovalis, Halophila stipulacea, Syringodium isoetifolium, Thalassia hemprichii, and Thalassodendron ciliatum, were found. Organic carbon stocks varied between species and pools, with the mean below ground vegetation carbon (bgc) stocks (5.1 ± 0.7 Mg C ha⁻¹) being more than three times greater than above ground carbon (agc) stocks (0.5 ± 0.1 Mg C ha⁻¹). Mean sediment organic carbon stock (sed C_org) of the subtidal seagrass beds was 113 ± 8 Mg C ha⁻¹. Combining this new knowledge with existing data from the intertidal and mangrove fringed areas, we estimate the total seagrass ecosystem organic carbon stocks in the bay to be 196,721 Mg C, with the intertidal seagrasses storing about 119,790 Mg C (61%), followed by the subtidal seagrasses 55,742 Mg C (28%) and seagrasses in the mangrove fringed creeks storing 21,189 Mg C (11%). These findings are important in highlighting the need to protect subtidal seagrass meadows and for building a national and global data base on seagrass contribution to global carbon dynamics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management)

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17 pages, 1521 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

eDNA Reveals the Associated Metazoan Diversity of Mediterranean Seagrass Sediments

by Marlene Wesselmann, Nathan R. Geraldi, Núria Marbà, Iris E. Hendriks, Rubén Díaz-Rúa and Carlos M. Duarte

Diversity 2022, 14(7), 549; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14070549 - 08 Jul 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2902

Abstract

Anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems have led to a decline of biodiversity across the oceans, threatening invaluable ecosystem services on which we depend. Ecological temporal data to track changes in diversity are relatively rare, and the few long-term datasets that exist often only date back a few decades or less. Here, we use eDNA taken from dated sediment cores to investigate changes over approximately the last 100 years of metazoan communities in native (Cymodocea nodosa and Posidonia oceanica) and exotic (Halophila stipulacea) seagrass meadows within the eastern Mediterranean Sea, at two locations in Greece and two in Cyprus. Overall, metazoan communities showed a high turnover of taxa during the past century, where losses of individual taxa in a seagrass meadow were compensated by the arrival of new taxa, probably due to the arrival of exotic species introduced in the Mediterranean Sea from the Suez Canal or the Gibraltar Strait. Specifically, bony fishes (Class Actinopteri) and soft corals (Class Anthozoa) presented significantly higher richness in the past (before the 1980s) than in the most recent time periods (from 1980–2017) and some Cnidarian orders were solely found in the past, whereas sponges and Calanoids (Class Hexanauplia), an order of copepods, showed an increase in richness since the 1980s. Moreover, the Phyla Porifera, Nematoda and the Classes Staurozoa, Hydrozoa and Ophiuroidea were detected in P. oceanica meadows but not in C. nodosa and H. stipulacea, which led to P. oceanica meadows having twice the richness of other seagrasses. The greater richness resulted from the more complex habitat provided by P. oceanica. The combination of eDNA and sediment cores allowed us to reconstruct temporal patterns of metazoan community diversity and provides a novel approach to follow natural communities back in time in the absence of time series and baseline data. The ongoing loss of P. oceanica meadows, likely to be compounded with future warming, might lead to a major loss of biodiversity and the replacement by other seagrass species, whether native or exotic, does not compensate for the loss. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management)

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19 pages, 2367 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Seagrass Invertebrate Fisheries, Their Value Chains and the Role of LMMAs in Sustainability of the Coastal Communities—Case of Southern Mozambique

by Sádia Chitará-Nhandimo, Assucena Chissico, Marlino Eugénio Mubai, António de Sacramento Cabral, Almeida Guissamulo and Salomão Bandeira

Diversity 2022, 14(3), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/d14030170 - 27 Feb 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3656

Abstract

Invertebrate gleaning within seagrass meadows is a common activity across eastern African communities that depend on fisheries for their livelihoods. Based on a case study of two contrasting sites, Maputo Bay (MB) and Inhambane Bay (IB), this study documents, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the gleaning activity, its value chain and stakeholders, paying particular attention to the recently created Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) within IB, boasting creativity in seagrass invertebrate fishery management. Twenty-four common edible species were identified for MB, and 15 for IB; nearly all gleaners were women and children. Our estimates indicate that about 7.7 and 7.6 tons of invertebrates are collected in the peak catch weeks (spring low tides) in MB and IB, respectively. Resources are caught and sold at local markets, food fairs (for IB only), and restaurants, as well as for direct household consumption. One thousand one hundred and seventy two (1172) hectares of LMMAs (corresponding to nearly 0.05 of IB) of fisheries management, together with existing community and other stakeholder engagement and intervention on value chains, are at the center of tangible invertebrate fishery management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management)

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20 pages, 2039 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ocean Acidification and Mollusc Settlement in Posidonia oceanica Meadows: Does the Seagrass Buffer Lower pH Effects at CO₂ Vents?

by Alessandra Barruffo, Laura Ciaralli, Giandomenico Ardizzone, Maria Cristina Gambi and Edoardo Casoli

Diversity 2021, 13(7), 311; https://doi.org/10.3390/d13070311 - 08 Jul 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3492

Abstract

Ocean acidification has been broadly recognised to have effects on the structure and functioning of marine benthic communities. The selection of tolerant or vulnerable species can also occur during settlement phases, especially for calcifying organisms which are more vulnerable to low pH–high pCO₂ conditions. Here, we use three natural CO₂ vents (Castello Aragonese north and south sides, and Vullatura, Ischia, Italy) to assess the effect of a decrease of seawater pH on the settlement of Mollusca in Posidonia oceanica meadows, and to test the possible buffering effect provided by the seagrass. Artificial collectors were installed and collected after 33 days, during April–May 2019, in three different microhabitats within the meadow (canopy, bottom/rhizome level, and dead matte without plant cover), following a pH decreasing gradient from an extremely low pH zone (pH < 7.4), to ambient pH conditions (pH = 8.10). A total of 4659 specimens of Mollusca, belonging to 57 different taxa, were collected. The number of taxa was lower in low and extremely low pH conditions. Reduced mollusc assemblages were reported at the acidified stations, where few taxa accounted for a high number of individuals. Multivariate analyses revealed significant differences in mollusc assemblages among pH conditions, microhabitat, and the interaction of these two factors. Acanthocardia echinata, Alvania lineata, Alvania sp. juv, Eatonina fulgida, Hiatella arctica, Mytilys galloprovincialis, Musculus subpictus, Phorcus sp. juv, and Rissoa variabilis were the species mostly found in low and extremely low pH stations, and were all relatively robust to acidified conditions. Samples placed on the dead matte under acidified conditions at the Vullatura vent showed lower diversity and abundances if compared to canopy and bottom/rhizome samples, suggesting a possible buffering role of the Posidonia on mollusc settlement. Our study provides new evidence of shifts in marine benthic communities due to ocean acidification and evidence of how P. oceanica meadows could mitigate its effects on associated biota in light of future climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management)

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10 pages, 1922 KiB

Open AccessOpinion

Seagrass Meadows Provide a Significant Resource in Support of Avifauna

by Richard K. F. Unsworth and Emma G. Butterworth

Diversity 2021, 13(8), 363; https://doi.org/10.3390/d13080363 - 06 Aug 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 7358

Abstract

Seagrass meadows are known to be rich in fauna, with complex food webs that provide trophic subsidy to species and habitats way beyond the extent of their distribution. Birds are an often-overlooked part of marine ecosystems; not only are they crucial to the health of marine ecosystems, but their populations are also supported by the productivity and biodiversity of marine ecosystems. The links of birds to specific habitat types such as seagrass meadows are largely not considered except in the context of direct herbivorous consumption. Here, we examine the linkages between seagrass and birds and propose a conceptual framework for how seagrasses may support bird populations beyond their distribution in both direct and indirect pathways. We present evidence that seagrass meadows are globally foraged for fish and invertebrates by coastal birds. They are also targeted by herbivorous wildfowl and potentially benefit birds further afield indirectly as a result of their support for offshore marine fish species at critical times in their life cycle (e.g., Atlantic Cod and King George Whiting). Evidence from the literature indicates that seagrass does provide support for birds, but reveals a field of research requiring much gap filling as studies are globally sparse, mechanistically limited, and small in spatial and temporal scales. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Seagrass Ecosystems, Associated Biodiversity, and Its Management)

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