SEAGRASS

Erwin R Ardli
Padang Lamun | Seagrass Meadow
Batanta Island, Raja Ampat, Papua
 Definition
• Seagrasses are highly specialized marine flowering plants
adapted to soft sediments of nearshore environments.
• Seagrasses can be seen as more fully adapted to a life in the
sea than mangroves, with most being permanently submerged,
although some species of Zostera, Phyllospadix, and Halophila grow
intertidally
• Relatively few species of seagrass globally (<60 species)
approximately 50 species in 12 genera. (Short, et al., 2007)
• Seagrass are productive, widespread and ecologically
significant features of nearshore environment.
• Seagrass support various coastal fisheries nursery habitat,
directly support dugong and Chelonia mydas
• Are not even true grasses (Poaceae)
• Lamun (seagrass) merupakan satu-satunya tumbuhan
berbunga (Angiospermae) yang memiliki rhizoma, daun dan akar sejati
yang hidup terendam dalam laut.
• Lamun mengkolonisasi suatu daerah melalui penyebaran
buah (propagule) yang dihasilkan secara seksual (dioecious).
• Lamun umumnya membentuk padang lamun yang luas di
dasar laut yang masih dapat dijangkau oleh cahaya matahari
yang memadai bagi pertumbuhannya.
• Lamun hidup di perairan yang dangkal dan jernih pada
kedalaman berkisar antara 2 inch – 12 m dengan sirkulasi air yang baik.
Enhalus acoroides
Legon Bajak, Karimunjawa
 Significance of Seagrasses
• Provide nursery areas for juvenile fish and crustaceans
• Provides food and habitat to endangered sea turtles and
manatees
• Also support mollusks, gastropods, insects, and other plants
• High productivity, supports biodiversity
• Export carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus to coastal food webs
• Stabilize sediment on sea floor - improve water quality
 Seagrasses as Nurseries
• Fish move to meadow as larva, move off shore when grown
• Some studies report that growth is faster in seagrass beds
than in non-vegetated environments
• Importance varies geographically
– meadows more important as nurseries in United States than in
Australia
– More important in tropical Caribbean then in Indo-Pacific region
 Klasifikasi Seagrass
• Kingdom : Plantae
– Divisio : Magnoliophyta (Angiosperms)
• Class : Liliopsida
– Sub class : Alismatidae
» Ordo : Alismatales
• Familia : Hydrocharitaceae
» Order: Potamogetonales
• Familia : Cymodoceaceae
• Familia : Posidoniaceae
• Familia : Potamogetonaceae
• Familia : Ruppiaceae
• Familia : Zannichelliaceae
• Familia : Zosteraceae
(Les and Cleland, 1997)
Evolution
 Characteristics and Distribution
• Distribution is limited to temperate and tropical waters
worldwide
• Requirements for survival:
salt tolerance
submergence
anchoring system in turbulent environment
hydrophilous pollination
Fig. 1. Global seagrass distribution shown as blue points and polygons (data from
2005 UNEP-WCMC) and geographic bioregions: 1. Temperate North Atlantic, 2.
Tropical Atlantic, 3. Mediterranean, 4. Temperate North Pacific, 5. Tropical
Indo-Pacific, 6. Temperate Southern Oceans. (Short, et al., 2007)
Fig. 3. Global seagrass diversity and distribution. Shades of green indicate numbers
of species reported for an area; blue points and polygons indicate documented
reports of seagrass occurrence (from 2005 UNEP-WCMC). (Short, et al., 2007)
 Tropical Indo-West Pacific
Insular Southeast Asia
1. Cymodocea rotundata
2. Cymodocea serrulata
3. Enhalus acoroides
4. Halodule pinifolia
5. Halodule uninervis
6. Halophila beccarii
7. Halophila decipiens
8. Halophila minor

9. Halophila ovalis
10. Halophila ovata
Tropical Indo Pacific
Tropical Atlantic
Mediteranian
Temperate North Atlantic
Temperate North Pacific
Temperate Southern Oceans
Morfologi
Cymodocea rotundata (CR)

• Flat, strap-like leaves 2-4mm wide

• Rounded, smooth leaf tip
• Smooth rhizome
• Scars from well developed leaf
sheaths form a continuous ring
around the stem
• Found on shallow reef flats
Cymodocea serrulata (CS)

• Linear strap-like leaves, 5-9mm

wide
• Serrated leaf tip
• Leaf sheath is broadly triangular
with a narrow base
• Leaf scars do not form a
continuous ring around the stem
• Found on shallow subtidal reef
flats and sand banks
 Enhalus acoroides (EA)

• Very long ribbon-like leaves

30-150 cm long
• Leaves with inrolled leaf margins
• Thick rhizome with long black
bristles and cord-like roots
• Found on shallow/intertidal
sand/mud banks (often adjacent
to mangrove forests)
 Halodule pinifolia (HP)

• Fine, delicate leaves up to 20cm

long
• 1 central vein
• Black central vein splits into two at
the rounded leaf tip
• Usually pale rhizome, with clean
black leaf scars
• Found on intertidal sand banks
 Halodule uninervis (HU)

• Usually larger than Halodule

pinifolia
• Trident leaf tip
• 1 central longitudinal vein
• Rhizome usually pale ivory, with
clean black leaf scars
• Dugong preferred food
• Found on shallow/intertidal sand
or mud banks
 Halophila capricorni (HC)

• Small oval leaves that are hairy on

one side
• Central vein on leaf with 9-14
cross veins
• Usually found deeper than 10m in
coral environments proximal to
coral reefs
• Only found in subtidal Australian
waters (>10m) proximal to coral
reefs
Halophila decipiens (HD)

• Small oval leaf blade 1-2.5cm long

• 6-8 cross veins
• Leaf hairs on both sides
• Leaves usually longer than wider
• Found at subtidal depths (>10m)
 Halophila ovalis (HO)

• Oval shaped leaves in pairs

• 8 or more cross veins
• No hairs on leaf surface
• Preferred dugong food
• Common early colonising species
• Found from intertidal to subtidal
depths
 Halophila minor (HM)

• Less than 8 pairs of cross veins

• Small oval leaves occurring in pairs
• Wedge-shaped leaf sheath
• Found on shallow/intertidal sand
flats
 Halophila spinulosa (HS)

• Fern like
• Leaves arranged in opposite pairs
• Erect shoot up to 15cm long
• Found at subtidal depths (>10m)
 Halophila tricostata (HT)

• Erect shoots 8-18cm long

• Leaves with 3 veins
• 2-3 leaves at each node
• Leaves “whorl” around stem
• Found at subtidal depths (>10m)
• Endemic to Queensland, Australia
Syringodium isoetifolium (SI)

• Cylindrical in cross section

(spaghetti like)
• Leaf tip tapers to a point
• Leaves 7-30cm long
• Found on shallow subtidal reef
flats and sand banks
 Thalassia hemprichii (TH)

• Short black bars of tannin cells in

leaf blade
• Thick rhizome with scars between
shoots
• Hooked/curved shaped leaves
• Leaves 10-40cm long
• Common on shallow reef flats
Thalassodendron ciliatum (TC)

• Cluster of ribbon-like curved

leaves at the end of an erect stem
• Round, serrated leaf tip
• Tough, woody rhizomes with scars
from successive shoots
• Very coiled, branched roots
• Typically found in rocky areas with
strong reef crests
 Zostera capricorni (ZC)

• Long strap-shaped leaves

• 5 longitudinal veins
• Cross veins which form a mesh
across leaf blade
• Rounded leaf tip
• Leaf grows straight from rhizome
ie. no stem
• Found on shallow and intertidal
mud/sand flats
 Physiology
• Able to take up nutrient through roots and shoots
• Fixed nutrients from detritus are then released by
leaching and microbial mineralization
– increases nutrient levels and energy flow in meadows
• Can tolerate range of salinity: above or below normal sea
water
– flourishes at salinity of 2, 12, 40%
– 60% and above damaged plants
• Epidermal cells exposed to high salinity show changes
– mitochondria closer to plasma membrane
– smaller vacuoles
– complex wall in growths
– density of mitochondria and choloroplasts increased
– Smaller vacuoles
 Morphological Adaptations
• Flattened, strap-like leaves
• Extensive root/rhizome system
• Halophytic
• Light sensitive
• Nutrient uptake through roots and leaves
• Reproduction: sexual (pollination) and asexual through
prolific vegetative propagation
• Hydrophilic pollination
• Pollen transported on water surface (Halodule, Ruppia),
pollen transported beneath water surface (Thalassia)
 Seagrasses-Anatomical Adaptations

Leaves
• Lack stomata; thin cuticle to allows gas and nutrient exchange
• Large thin-walled aerenchyma facilitate gas diffusion within
the leaf & provides buoyancy to the leaves

Roots and Rhizomes

• Oxygen transport to the roots creates an oxic environment
around the roots, facilitating nutrient uptake
• All produce root hairs
 Ecophysiology and Productivity
• Wide temperature tolerance
– 0-36 degrees C (tolerance),
– 0-30 degrees C (growth)
• Wide salinity tolerance
– 0-90 ppt (tolerance)
– 0-56 ppt (growth)

• Minimum 18% surface irradiance PAR requirements

• Blade productivity: 0.2-18.7 g C/m2/day
• Biomass up to 8,000 g drywt/m2
 Factors affecting
species composition & zonation
• Substrate composition
– mud or muddy sand
• Wave energy
– low
• Water depth
– 11-25% SI
– Intertidal to 10-12 m
• Salinity tolerance
– Optimal vs tolerance
• Successional stage
• Latitude
 Trophic Support
Large amounts of primary productivity
• Supports detrital food webs
• Large amount exported to adjacent habitats & ecosystems
• Supports some grazing food webs
• Direct grazing on roots & rhizomes
• Epiphytes grazed
 Destruction of meadows
• Because habitat is close to shore, seagrasses susceptible to
destruction
 Loss of Meadows
• National Marine Fisheries Service petitioned to list the
seagrass as endangered in 1998
• Seagrass meadows being destroyed
– Physical factors such as storms can destroy seagrass
– Mostly human causes
• Dredging, anchor mooring, boat propellers
• Erosion due to seawalls
• Sedimentation, high salinity, poor water quality
• Sewage discharge
• Most significant seagrass killers are algae blooms
 Algae Blooms
• Excessive nutrient inputs leads to algae blooms
– waste water and farm run-off
• Block out light
– density of plants reduced
– productivity reduced
– light reduction can cause the collapse of a meadow in two years
• Once destroyed, meadows take decades to reestablish
• Some cannot grow back because young plants need shelter of
full grown plants