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Herbivory in Seagrass Meadows: an Evolving Paradigm

  • Special Issue: Seagrasses Tribute to Susan Williams
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Abstract

In the past few decades, we have learned much about the factors that regulate the productivity of seagrass-dominated ecosystems, especially those at low latitudes. Here, we update our previous assessments of the importance of seagrass-herbivore interactions, focusing on recent studies that have examined (1) the diversity of herbivores feeding on live seagrass leaves; (2) the factors that determine the ability of seagrasses to respond to herbivore damage; (3) how potential chemical deterrents, and structural defenses, in seagrass leaves influence herbivore consumption; (4) how climate-driven changes in herbivore identity might change grazing intensity in temperate seagrasses; (5) the effects of herbivory on pollen, flowers, fruits, and seeds of seagrasses; and (6) the effects of human removal of seagrass megaherbivores and the top-down effects of overfishing top predators on seagrass consumption. We also identify important gaps in our understanding of the broadly defined topic of herbivory in seagrass-dominated ecosystems. Specifically, we suggest that future studies should consider focusing on increasing our understanding of herbivore foraging strategies, quantifying the impact of herbivory on seagrass reproductive biology, including effects on the fates of flowers, fruits, and seeds and documenting the commonness of compensatory responses and chemical defenses to grazing. Studies of the roles of the nutritional content (as measured by C/N/P ratios), in determining herbivore feeding preferences, remain fertile grounds for future studies, as do additional experiments to quantify the relative roles of top-down and bottom-up factors in determining seagrass abundance and energy fluxes in seagrass meadows.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the many colleagues, mentors, and students with whom we have learned about seagrass ecology over the years, most importantly Susan Williams. We appreciate the comments of Dr. Patricia Prado on a previous version of the manuscript and the anonymous reviewers.

Funding

We received financial support from the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (UNCW #9537 and NA08OAR4300863), The Nature Conservancy’s Ecosystem Research Program (HO-CSD-083100 AL), The National Marine Fisheries Service (MARFIN Grant No: NA17FF2015), and NSF (awards OCE 919102217) The National Science Foundation (Alabama) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (R11-8996152), the DISPro program, a joint program between the Environmental Protection Agency’s EMAP program and the National Park Service (Grant No. 2350-3-0882).

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  1. Dauphin Island Sea Lab, 101 Bienville Blvd, Dauphin Island, AL, 36528, USA

    John F. Valentine & Kenneth L. Heck Jr

  2. Department of Marine Sciences, LSCB 25, University of South Alabama, 5871 USA Drive North, Mobile, AL, 36688-0002, USA

    John F. Valentine & Kenneth L. Heck Jr

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Valentine, J.F., Heck, K.L. Herbivory in Seagrass Meadows: an Evolving Paradigm. Estuaries and Coasts 44, 491–505 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00849-3

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