Foreword
Seagrasses have captured the imagination of scientists only relatively recently. Marine algae or seaweeds have had a much more glorious history, extending back to the 18
th Century. It is true that
Aristotle described the seeds of Posidonia oceanica and that, much later, Carl von Linn´ e (Linnaeus) recognized and named two species of seagrass in 1779: Zostera marina (1753) and Posidonia
(Zostera) oceanica (1757). However this knowledge
penetrated very little, despite the fact that the savant
and grandfather of Charles Darwin, Erasmus Darwin wrote a stanza on Zostera in his Botanic Garden
(Part V) in 1803 (see also Fig. 5, Chapter 25):
“Stretch’d on her mossy couch, in trackless
deeps,
Queen of the coral groves, Zostera sleeps;
The silvery sea-weed matted round her bed,
And distant surges murmuring o’er her head.”
There were certainly pioneers of seagrass biology
early in the second half of the 19
th Century (notably, P. Ascherson) and early 20
th Century (e.g. C.H.
Ostenfeld and W.A. Setchell). And while the pandemic decline of eelgrass in the 1930’s was widely
noted along with loss of numerous ecosystem functions, seagrass science remained submersed for the
next 40 years. It was not until the landmark publication of “Seagrasses of the World” by C. (Kees)
den Hartog in 1970 that the taxonomy of seagrasses
was in any way brought into line with systematic
studies of most other plants over a century earlier.
This was a seminal time as the advent of SCUBA
diving led to a quantum leap forward in studies
of the benthic components of the nearshore marine
environment. A major result of this happy union
of events was a sudden realization that seagrasses
played a major role in nearshore ecosystems in all
continents except Antarctica. This realization led to
major funding initiatives such as the International
Decade of Ocean Exploration, the launch of a journal in which seagrass biology played a major role
(Aquatic Botany, 1975) and the launching of a series
of Seagrass Workshops (the first in Leiden, 1973),
which have focused the efforts of a growing cohort
of seagrass researchers around the world (Seagrass
2004 and International Seagrass Biology Workshop
6, in Townsville, Australia, had 170 delegates). In
addition the recent publication of an introductory
book on Seagrass Ecology (Hemminga and Duarte
2000), a Global Seagrass Methods book (Coles and
Short, 2003) and a Global Seagrass Atlas (Green
and Short, 2003) have given researchers and managers alike a new set of tools to facilitate the further
understanding of seagrasses. However, despite this
upsurge in seagrass science, much remains unknown
in seagrass biology and ecology. Seagrass research
has been concentrated in only a few areas of the world
(Australia, Europe, United States) and with only a
few of the 50+ species (e.g. Zostera marina, Posidonia oceanica, Thalassia testudinum), with many existing paradigms developed from even fewer species
and areas (Duarte 1999).
The need for increased understanding today has
taken on a new meaning, and urgency, as the rate of
seagrass loss appears to be accelerating concurrently
with the rapid urbanization of the coastal zone, where
seagrasses are most abundant (Green and Short,
2003). The very survival of seagrasses, which have
been present for over 100 million years, now depends
on a renewed commitment by all parties – managers,
scientists, politicians, and the general public – to
form partnerships to conserve remaining seagrass
beds and restore, where possible, lost seagrass habitat. This renewal can only be successfully accomplished with a clear understanding of how all seagrasses grow and survive and how various fauna
utilize this habitat. Thus, we as editors, believe the
contents of this book are timely in this regard as
they set the stage for what we must do to insure
seagrasses not just survive but thrive in the face of
rapid urbanization of the coastal zone. We believe
by examining where we were with seagrass science,
what is occurring presently, and where we must go
is critical to this survival. In this book, we have not
just asked our authors to review their area of specialty, but more importantly they were asked to reassess and reformulate paradigms and set the stage
for how the field must develop if seagrasses are to
persist.
xiii
Seagrasses have captured the imagination of scientists only relatively recently. Marine algae or seaweeds have had a much more glorious history, extending back to the 18
th Century. It is true that
Aristotle described the seeds of Posidonia oceanica and that, much later, Carl von Linn´ e (Linnaeus) recognized and named two species of seagrass in 1779: Zostera marina (1753) and Posidonia
(Zostera) oceanica (1757). However this knowledge
penetrated very little, despite the fact that the savant
and grandfather of Charles Darwin, Erasmus Darwin wrote a stanza on Zostera in his Botanic Garden
(Part V) in 1803 (see also Fig. 5, Chapter 25):
“Stretch’d on her mossy couch, in trackless
deeps,
Queen of the coral groves, Zostera sleeps;
The silvery sea-weed matted round her bed,
And distant surges murmuring o’er her head.”
There were certainly pioneers of seagrass biology
early in the second half of the 19
th Century (notably, P. Ascherson) and early 20
th Century (e.g. C.H.
Ostenfeld and W.A. Setchell). And while the pandemic decline of eelgrass in the 1930’s was widely
noted along with loss of numerous ecosystem functions, seagrass science remained submersed for the
next 40 years. It was not until the landmark publication of “Seagrasses of the World” by C. (Kees)
den Hartog in 1970 that the taxonomy of seagrasses
was in any way brought into line with systematic
studies of most other plants over a century earlier.
This was a seminal time as the advent of SCUBA
diving led to a quantum leap forward in studies
of the benthic components of the nearshore marine
environment. A major result of this happy union
of events was a sudden realization that seagrasses
played a major role in nearshore ecosystems in all
continents except Antarctica. This realization led to
major funding initiatives such as the International
Decade of Ocean Exploration, the launch of a journal in which seagrass biology played a major role
(Aquatic Botany, 1975) and the launching of a series
of Seagrass Workshops (the first in Leiden, 1973),
which have focused the efforts of a growing cohort
of seagrass researchers around the world (Seagrass
2004 and International Seagrass Biology Workshop
6, in Townsville, Australia, had 170 delegates). In
addition the recent publication of an introductory
book on Seagrass Ecology (Hemminga and Duarte
2000), a Global Seagrass Methods book (Coles and
Short, 2003) and a Global Seagrass Atlas (Green
and Short, 2003) have given researchers and managers alike a new set of tools to facilitate the further
understanding of seagrasses. However, despite this
upsurge in seagrass science, much remains unknown
in seagrass biology and ecology. Seagrass research
has been concentrated in only a few areas of the world
(Australia, Europe, United States) and with only a
few of the 50+ species (e.g. Zostera marina, Posidonia oceanica, Thalassia testudinum), with many existing paradigms developed from even fewer species
and areas (Duarte 1999).
The need for increased understanding today has
taken on a new meaning, and urgency, as the rate of
seagrass loss appears to be accelerating concurrently
with the rapid urbanization of the coastal zone, where
seagrasses are most abundant (Green and Short,
2003). The very survival of seagrasses, which have
been present for over 100 million years, now depends
on a renewed commitment by all parties – managers,
scientists, politicians, and the general public – to
form partnerships to conserve remaining seagrass
beds and restore, where possible, lost seagrass habitat. This renewal can only be successfully accomplished with a clear understanding of how all seagrasses grow and survive and how various fauna
utilize this habitat. Thus, we as editors, believe the
contents of this book are timely in this regard as
they set the stage for what we must do to insure
seagrasses not just survive but thrive in the face of
rapid urbanization of the coastal zone. We believe
by examining where we were with seagrass science,
what is occurring presently, and where we must go
is critical to this survival. In this book, we have not
just asked our authors to review their area of specialty, but more importantly they were asked to reassess and reformulate paradigms and set the stage
for how the field must develop if seagrasses are to
persist.
xiii