Socio-Ecological System perspective of seagrass ecosystem in Wakatobi

Abstract

The Socio-Ecological System (SES) perspective is widely used to identify and explain the relationship between seagrass ecosystem and their dependent community. These relationships can be recognized when humans utilize the seagrass ecosystem that benefits as a dependent community. Further, these utilization patterns can be used as a basis for managing the seagrass ecosystems themselves. This study was conducted to identify and map the relationship between seagrass ecosystem and their communities in Wangi-wangi Island, Kaledupa Island and Tomia Island. The data were collected in June–July 2019 through observation, focused group discussions and interviews with 59 respondents. The relationship between the seagrass ecosystem and its community was analyzed descriptively. The results show that the SES built a simple pattern. Seagrass ecosystems were used as the main source of daily food for island people. Seagrass products were traded limited inside the island. Resource users, infrastructure providers, as well as public infrastructure formed a short-chain. It is important to preserve the condition of seagrass ecosystems by ensuring existing legal rules and local wisdom to enhance the SES.

Provisioning services of seagrass ecosystem in Pari Island

“…They use handlines, nets to catch fish, knives, machetes, and crowbars to harvest shellfishes. This situation is the same as it occurs in Bintan, Wakatobi, Derawan, Kei Kecil Island, and Youtefa Bay [9,10,11,22,7].…”

“…Previous study showed that all respondents consisted of males (61%) and females (39%) and was dominated by the age ranging from 30-50 years (61%) [10]. All fishermen were male, while women involved in harvesting invertebrates and selling shellfish.…”

“…For example, Thallassia hemprichii leaves are very strong in inhibiting the free radicals and contain tremendous potential for utilization as a source of natural antioxidants [2]. Many biotas are harvested from seagrass ecosystem and used for consumption or livelihood, such as fishes, sea cucumbers, swimming crabs, shellfish, squids, and seahorses [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11].…”

“…Evidence shows that provisioning services are important sources of food and livelihoods for communities, especially those living on small islands [4,5,10,12,13]. These communities is highly dependent on resources from seagrass ecosystems, which means that humans have a very close relationship with seagrass ecosystems.…”

Seagrass Condition at Some Small Islands in The Taka Bonerate National Marine Park, South Sulawesi Indonesia

“…Each ecosystem has very high productivity that is higher than the rain forest ecosystems (Anon, 2001). Therefore, they provide goods and environmental services to the local community living nearby (Hughes & Stachowics, 2004) and use there as a source of livelihood (Sjafrie et al, 2021& Furkon et al, 2020. The tropical seagrass ecosystem, which is located between the mangrove and coral ecosystems regulates the diversity of flora and fauna in coastal areas (Phinn, et al, 2008).…”