Highly Disturbed Populations of Seagrass Show Increased Resilience but Lower Genotypic Diversity.

ABSTRACT: The response of seagrass systems to a severe disturbance provides an opportunity to quantify the degree of resilience in different meadows, and subsequently to test whether there is a genetic basis to resilience. We used existing data on levels of long-standing disturbance from poor water quality, and the responses of seagrass (Zostera muelleri) after an extreme flood event in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. Sites were grouped into high and low disturbance categories, in which seagrass showed high and low resilience, respectively, as determined by measuring rates of key feedback processes (nutrient removal, suppression of sediment resuspension, and algal grazing), and physiological and morphological traits. Theoretically, meadows with higher genotypic diversity would be expected

SUBMITTER: Connolly RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6034141 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature