Chapter 25
Seagrass Conservation Biology: An Interdisciplinary
Science for Protection of the Seagrass Biome
W. Judson Kenworthy
Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, NCCOS, NOS, NOAA, 101 Pivers Island
Road, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria
College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105-6715, USA
Robert G. Coles
Northern Fisheries Center, Cairns, Australia
G ´
erard Pergent and Christine Pergent-Martini
EqEL, University of Corsica, Faculty of Sciences, BP 52, 20250 Corte, France
“Planet Earth is one ocean and a bunch of islands”
Harry Recher 2000. Pacific Conservation Biology
V:240.
I. Introduction
A. Conservation Biology
In the past three decades seagrass research has
adopted several disciplines and matured into a global
science. One of the approaches we can use to focus our science to benefit the management and protection of seagrass is that of Conservation Biology; a proactive field of science bringing together
academic, government, and nongovernmental organizations from a wide range of disciplines to understand and conserve biodiversity. This relatively
recent field synthesises and directs insights from
many disciplines for direct application to the protection and conservation of species, communities,
and biomes (Fig. 1). While the primary focus for
conservation biology comes from ecology, genetics,
landscape ecology, population biology and taxonomy, the discipline also incorporates analytical procedures associated with the social sciences, biogeography, and evolutionary biology (Soule and Wilcox,
1980; Soule, 1985; Meffe and Carroll, 1994; Primack, 2000). Conservation biology recognizes that
humans derive both extractive and intrinsic benefit from the natural world and embraces methods
and analyses utilized in fisheries science, agriculture, anthropology, economics, law, philosophy, and
sociology. Today, unlike traditional approaches that
were rooted in the preservation and management of
selected species, conservation biologists are advising natural resource managers to focus more on an
ecosystem approach that includes entire biomes, and
to recognize that public trust demands comprehensive protection of biodiversity as much as sustaining
the yield of harvestable organisms. Conservation biology endeavors to maintain and protect biodiversity at all spatial scales, including a variety of little
understood and often overlooked life forms. In the
broader meaning of biodiversity we are interested in
conserving ecological services as much as life forms
(sensu Randall, 1986).
595–623.
A. W. D. Larkum et al. (eds.), Seagrasses: Biology, Ecology and Conservation, pp.
c
2006 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands.
Seagrass Conservation Biology: An Interdisciplinary
Science for Protection of the Seagrass Biome
W. Judson Kenworthy
Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, NCCOS, NOS, NOAA, 101 Pivers Island
Road, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria
College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105-6715, USA
Robert G. Coles
Northern Fisheries Center, Cairns, Australia
G ´
erard Pergent and Christine Pergent-Martini
EqEL, University of Corsica, Faculty of Sciences, BP 52, 20250 Corte, France
“Planet Earth is one ocean and a bunch of islands”
Harry Recher 2000. Pacific Conservation Biology
V:240.
I. Introduction
A. Conservation Biology
In the past three decades seagrass research has
adopted several disciplines and matured into a global
science. One of the approaches we can use to focus our science to benefit the management and protection of seagrass is that of Conservation Biology; a proactive field of science bringing together
academic, government, and nongovernmental organizations from a wide range of disciplines to understand and conserve biodiversity. This relatively
recent field synthesises and directs insights from
many disciplines for direct application to the protection and conservation of species, communities,
and biomes (Fig. 1). While the primary focus for
conservation biology comes from ecology, genetics,
landscape ecology, population biology and taxonomy, the discipline also incorporates analytical procedures associated with the social sciences, biogeography, and evolutionary biology (Soule and Wilcox,
1980; Soule, 1985; Meffe and Carroll, 1994; Primack, 2000). Conservation biology recognizes that
humans derive both extractive and intrinsic benefit from the natural world and embraces methods
and analyses utilized in fisheries science, agriculture, anthropology, economics, law, philosophy, and
sociology. Today, unlike traditional approaches that
were rooted in the preservation and management of
selected species, conservation biologists are advising natural resource managers to focus more on an
ecosystem approach that includes entire biomes, and
to recognize that public trust demands comprehensive protection of biodiversity as much as sustaining
the yield of harvestable organisms. Conservation biology endeavors to maintain and protect biodiversity at all spatial scales, including a variety of little
understood and often overlooked life forms. In the
broader meaning of biodiversity we are interested in
conserving ecological services as much as life forms
(sensu Randall, 1986).
595–623.
A. W. D. Larkum et al. (eds.), Seagrasses: Biology, Ecology and Conservation, pp.
c
2006 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands.