Comparative ecology of submersed grass beds in freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments1

Stevenson, J. Court

doi:10.4319/lo.1988.33.4part2.0867

Cited by 24 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 143 publications

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“…In parallel, there is growing evidence that belowground seagrass organs play an important role in the nutrition, anchoring, and spreading of seagrasses (e.g McRoy & Barsdate 1970, Kuo & McComb 1989, Duarte & Sand-Jensen 1990, Duarte 1991, and that belowground biomass often dominates the total plant biomass of seagrass communities (i.e. seagrass belowground to aboveground biomass ratios of generally > l , Stevenson 1988, Kuo & McComb 1989 l l d r Ecol Prog SE Duarte & C'htscano In press) Yet, there is a major Imbalance hctrzrrc.n our k n o w l~~c l r~r~ of the, clcvclupnient of a h o v~q r o u n d and that of belowqround structures In w~l q r d s s c o m~~\ u n~t~ ( . s Sti~clltls U!…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Root production and belowground seagrass biomass

Duarte¹,

Merino²,

Agawin³

et al. 1998

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

144

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Root production and belowground seagrass biomassCarlos M. ~u a r t e '~' , Martin ~e r i n o~, Nona S. R. ~g a w i n~, Janet uri3, Miguel D. ~o r t e s~, Margarita E. Gallegos4, Nuria Marba5, Marten A. Hemminga5 ' ABSTRACT: The root and rhizome biomass of the seagrass species present in 3 mixed and 2 nlonospecific meadows representative of different floras (Spanish Med~terranean, Mexican Caribbean, Kenyan coast, and the South China Sea off The Philippines) was examined to test for the existence of general patterns in the distribution of their biomass in the sediments, and to test a simple approach based on age determinations to estimate root production. The thickness of the roots was scaled to the thickness of the seagrass rhizomes (r = 0.92, p < 0.001). Root and rhizome biomass were high (> 100 and >200 g D\,V m-2, respectively) for the mixed meadows examined; these belowground structures had a projected surface area often exceeding 1 m2 m-' when roots and rhizomes were considered together, and they formed a dense web of root material comprising several hundred meters per square meter. Belowground biomass showed considerable vertical stratification within the sediments, with a tendency for the larger species to extend deeper into the sediments than smaller ones. This tendency for segregation should reduce the potential interspecific competition for sediment resources, which is l~kely to be greater in the uppermost layers, where the belowground biomass is more evenly distributed among species. The rate of adventitious root production on vertical shoots varied from species that produced a root on almost every node to species that produced 1 adventitious root for every 10 nodes. Root production-both on horizontal rhizomes and vertical shoots-was substantial, with the combined root production approaching, or exceeding, 1000 g DW m-2 yr-' The resulting root turnover was quite high, with most values ranging between 2 and 10 yr-', indicative of a characteristic turnover time of months for the root compartment. The estimates of root production derived here often exceed those of rhizome production and reach values comparable to leaf production, clearly demonstrating that root production is an important component (up to 50%) of total seayrass production.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Root production and belowground seagrass biomass

Duarte¹,

Merino²,

Agawin³

et al. 1998

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

144

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“…Yet, the biomass and turnover rates of different seagrass species differ by orders of magnitude (cf. Stevenson 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seagrasses are characterized by a relative taxonon~ic and architectural uniformity, and are represented by few (about 50 species distributed in 12 genera) species (Den Hartog 1970, Stevenson 1988. Seagrasses grow by the reiteration of modules (rhizome internodes, leaf clusters, and roots; cf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allometric scaling of seagrass form and productivity

Duarte¹

1991

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

272

196

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The implications of differences in plant size for seagrass productivlty were examined based on an extensive compilation of data on architecture and growth of seagrass species. The analysis revealed strong allometric relationships between the size of different components, particularly a close scaling of the size of leaves, shoots, and fruits to rhizome diameter, as well as strong relationships between shoot size and the dynamics (e.g turnover rate, plastochrone interval, and longevity) of seagrass leaves and rhizomes of different species. The decrease in rhizome elongation rates and leaf turnover rates with increasing seagrass size demonstrates the importance of architecture for seagrass productivlty, and also provides explanations for the different ecological roles of small, colonizing species, and large, climax seagrass species. In addition, these results demonstrate that while habitat conditions have important Influences on seagrass productivity, differences in size may explain the vast range of turnover tlmes, plastochrone intervals, and module longevities, encountered among seagrass species.

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“…Indeed, we found that canopy-forming SAV tended to be more efficiently collected by rake in contrast to the rosette-forming Vallisneria americana . The latter has one of the higher root to shoot ratio among freshwater SAV (Stevenson 1988), thus being harder to break from the sediment and being systematically underestimated by the rake. We also observed that the rosette-forming linear leaves tended slip in between rake teeth compared to the canopy-forming that were entangled in them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining quadrat, rake and echosounding to estimate submerged aquatic vegetation biomass at the ecosystem scale

Botrel

Hudon

Biron

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Measuring freshwater submerged aquatic (SAV) biomass at large spatial scales is challenging and no single technique can cost effectively accomplish this while maintaining accuracy. We propose to combine and intercalibrate accurate quadrat-scuba diver technique, fast rake sampling and large scale echosounding. We found that the relationship between quadrat and rake biomass is moderately strong (R2 = 0.62, RMSECV = 2.19 g/m2) and varies with substrate type and SAV growth form. Rake biomass was also successfully estimated from biovolume10 and its error (R2 = 0.53, RMSECV = 5.95 g/m2), a biomass proxy derived from echosounding, at a resolution of 10 m radius from rake sampling point. However, the relationship was affected by SAV growth form, depth, acoustic data quality and wind conditions. Sequential application of calibrations yielded predictions in agreement with quadrat observations, but echosounding predictions underestimated biomass in shallow areas (< 1.5 m) while outperforming point estimation in deep areas (> 3 m). Whole-system biomass was more accurately estimated by calibrated echosounding than rake point surveys, owing to the large sample size and better representation of spatial heterogeneity of echosounding. We recommend developing as a one-time event a series of quadrat and rake calibration equations for each growth form and substrate type. Because the relationship between biovolume and biomass depends on SAV growth form, rake and echosounding calibration needs to be conducted frequently. With the two calibrations, rake can thus be used as a rapid ground truthing or in shallow areas where echosounding is inadequate.

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Comparative ecology of submersed grass beds in freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments1

Cited by 24 publications

References 143 publications

Root production and belowground seagrass biomass

Root production and belowground seagrass biomass

Allometric scaling of seagrass form and productivity

Combining quadrat, rake and echosounding to estimate submerged aquatic vegetation biomass at the ecosystem scale

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