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Seagrass cover and associated macrobenthic marine invertebrates in Southern Philippines

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Abstract

In Southern Philippines where coastal research is scarce and hindered by safety and security concerns, the present study on seagrass assessment and its associated macroinvertebrates is imperative for resource conservation and management. The study was conducted in 19 seagrass sites across 18 coastal municipalities spanning the seagrass beds in the Southern Philippines. The results identified eight seagrasses with Thalassia hemprichii, Enhalus acoroides, and Cymodocea rotundata as the most frequent species. Seagrass cover ranged from 26.50 (fair) to 91.30% (very good conditions), highest in Sitangkai and lowest in Tubig Indangan, Simunul. In six sites, the seagrass was below good quality (fair). Forty-eight (48) macroinvertebrate species, represented by five phyla, were recorded in the seagrass sites. The highest total number of species is the Mollusks (26). The sea urchin Diadema setosum was the species with the highest density (0.1327 ind/m2), while the prevalence of commercial-important species was observed, like conch shells (Canarium, Strombus, Lambis). Thirteen sites are recorded with high macroinvertebrate diversity values (> 2). Tubig Indangan, Simunul had the highest dominance value, which is attributed to the high density of Trepneustes gratilla. The loss of seagrass habitat would equate to great economic losses through the risk of their different ecological and economic functions. This study provides novel baseline information about the status of the tropical seagrasses in Southern Philipines and the region of Mindanao, as well as the invertebrate communities they host, which is essential to establishing adequate management practices.

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Data availability

All data supporting the findings of this study are supplied in the manuscript. However, the raw data are only made available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This project was made possible through a grant from DARE TO Grant-in Aid of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) K to 12 Transition Program. The team members hugely appreciate the MSU-GenSan, MSU-Tawi Tawi, and University of Tokyo for their collaborative efforts on the implementation of this project; the Local Government Units and local enumerators for their logistics support; Peoples Organization and fisherfolk of all target areas around Southern Philippines for their active participation and field support; and MSU- Naawan for the admin and laboratory support.

Funding

This project was funded by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) under the DARE TO Grant-in Aid of K to 12 Transition Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mindanao State University at Naawan-School of Marine Fisheries and Technology, 9023, Naawan, Misamis Oriental, Philippines

    Dan Arriesgado, Elgen Arriesgado & Rodrigo Acuña

  2. Institute of Fisheries Research and Development, Mindanao State University at Naawan, 9023, Naawan, Misamis Oriental, Philippines

    Dan Arriesgado, Elgen Arriesgado, Elnor Roa, Aida Perpetua, Ruby Gonzales, Rodrigo Acuña, Rustan Eballe, Delyn Bucay, Mayenne Balaba, Lyndon Roa & Bopp Benjack Janolino

  3. Mindanao State University - Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography, 7500, Bongao, Tawi Tawi, Philippines

    Richard Muallil

  4. Mindanao State University – General Santos, 9500, General Santos City, South Cotabato, Philippines

    Julius Mingoc

  5. Mindanao State University at Naawan – College of Marine and Allied Sciences, 9023, Naawan, Misamis Oriental, Philippines

    Elnor Roa, Ruby Gonzales & Marnelle Sornito

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  1. Dan Arriesgado
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Contributions

The Conceptualization, methodology, supervision, visualization, writing- original draft, formal analysis, data Curation were performed by DMA. EMA also involved in the conceptualization, methodology, writing- original draft, review, editing and formal analysis. MBS and DMB also performed in the visualization, writing, review and editing. The supervision and project administration were performed by ECR. ADP also involved in the methodology and conceptualization. The validation and visualization were participated by Ruby Castrence Gonzales. REA, RCE, LLR, and BBDJ performed in the identification of samples, acquisition of data, methodology and data curation. The preparation of entry protocol, gathering of data, community interviews for data collection were done by MPBRNM and JVM.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dan Arriesgado.

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Conflict of interest

This study was funded by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) under the DARE TO Grant-in Aid of K to 12 Transition Program. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest, including any financial, personal, or other relationships with other people or organizations including the funding donor within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence or be perceived to influence the work and its outcome. The authors also confirmed that this work is original and has not been published, nor it is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The biological samples such as seagrasses and microbenthic invertebrates were recorded in situ and are exempt from this requirement.

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Arriesgado, D., Arriesgado, E., Roa, E. et al. Seagrass cover and associated macrobenthic marine invertebrates in Southern Philippines. Aquat Ecol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-024-10095-5

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