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Seagrass Resistance to Light Deprivation: Implications for Resilience

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Seagrasses of Australia

Abstract

Seagrass habitat is strongly constrained by light availability. Decline in benthic light due to anthropogenic activities (e.g. eutrophication, dredging and catchment modification) is a major threat to seagrass ecosystems , both within Australia and internationally. Even in pristine conditions, light available to seagrasses can be highly variable on timescales ranging from seconds to years. This chapter outlines the three primary mechanisms which enable seagrass to adapt to and/or resist temporary light deprivation: (1) consumption of accumulated carbon; (2) reduction in rates of growth and carbon loss; and (3) increased efficiency of radiation capture and usage. The capacity to withstand severe light deprivation ranges from only two weeks for small, colonising seagrass species such as Halophila ovalis , to beyond two years for large, persistent species such as Posidonia sinuosa. This “tolerance time” depends on the magnitude and timing of the light deprivation, current environmental conditions (e.g. temperature and sediment sulphides) as well as preceding conditions. This chapter proposes a simple conceptual model for seagrass resilience to temporary light reduction , combining both resistance (the capacity of seagrass to survive the light deprivation event) , and the capacity to recover once the disturbance ends. Data is synthesized for several potential indicators of seagrass resistance to light reduction.

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Acknowledgements

Contribution by CC was funded by the National Environmental Science Program, Tropical Water Quality hub. The concepts presented here arise in part from discussions with numerous colleagues from the Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS) working group on Australian Seagrass Habitats. Contribution by MPA and CC were funded by Great Barrier Reef Foundation grant: Seagrass connectivity, community composition and growth: attributes of a resilient GBR. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Katherine R. O’Brien & Matthew P. Adams

  2. NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, PO Box A290, Sydney South, NSW, 1232, Australia

    Angus J. P. Ferguson

  3. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San José, 11501-2060, Costa Rica

    Jimena Samper-Villarreal

  4. Monitoring and Research, Healthy Land and Water, PO Box 13204, George St, Brisbane, QLD, 4003, Australia

    Paul S. Maxwell

  5. CSIRO, Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Mark E. Baird

  6. Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, 4870, Australia

    Catherine Collier

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  1. Katherine R. O’Brien
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  2. Matthew P. Adams
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  3. Angus J. P. Ferguson
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  4. Jimena Samper-Villarreal
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  5. Paul S. Maxwell
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  6. Mark E. Baird
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  7. Catherine Collier
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katherine R. O’Brien .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Anthony W. D. Larkum

  2. School of Biological Sciences and the Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Autralia, Australia

    Gary A. Kendrick

  3. Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Peter J. Ralph

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O’Brien, K.R. et al. (2018). Seagrass Resistance to Light Deprivation: Implications for Resilience. In: Larkum, A., Kendrick, G., Ralph, P. (eds) Seagrasses of Australia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71354-0_10

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