Increased extent of waterfowl grazing lengthens the recovery time of a colonizing seagrass (Halophila ovalis) with implications for seagrass resilience.

ABSTRACT: Herbivore distributions and abundance are shifting because of climate change, leading to intensified grazing pressure on foundation species such as seagrasses. This, combined with rapidly increasing magnitudes of change in estuarine ecosystems, may affect seagrass resilience. While the overall resilience of seagrasses is generally well-studied, the timeframes of recovery has received comparatively little attention, particularly in temperate estuaries. We investigated how the recovery time (RT) of seagrass is affected by simulated grazing in a southwestern Australian estuary. Whilst excluding swans, we simulated different grazing intensities (25, 50, 75, and 100% removal from 1 m² plots) at four locations in the Swan-Canning Estuary, Western Australia during summer and tracked th

SUBMITTER: O'Dea CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9465301 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature