Tropical Biogeomorphic Seagrass Landscapes for Coastal Protection: Persistence and Wave Attenuation During Major Storms Events

James, Rebecca K.; Lynch, Amanda H.; Herman, Peter M. J.; Katwijk, M.M. van; Tussenbroek, Brigitta I. van; Dijkstra, Henk A.; Westen, René M. van; Boog, Carine G. van der; Klees, R.; Pietrzak, Julie D.; Slobbe, Cornelis; Bouma, Tjeerd J.

doi:10.1007/s10021-020-00519-2

Cited by 33 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 69 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…Further to this point, we also realize that the time periods covered by the integration of remote sensing estimates could result in changes in seagrass position or density, which may underline some of the differences between estimates derived using remote sensing images acquired in different years. However, Caribbean seagrass ecosystems are tolerant of hurricanes and the extensive carbonate bank habitat where they reside functions to dissipate and distribute wave energy from storms 31 . As a result, surveys have suggested that seagrasses in The Bahamas are relatively stable, seeing negligible changes in the last 10–20 years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tiger sharks support the characterization of the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem

Gallagher¹,

Brownscombe

Alsudairy

et al. 2022

Nat Commun

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Seagrass conservation is critical for mitigating climate change due to the large stocks of carbon they sequester in the seafloor. However, effective conservation and its potential to provide nature-based solutions to climate change is hindered by major uncertainties regarding seagrass extent and distribution. Here, we describe the characterization of the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem, located in The Bahamas. We integrate existing spatial estimates with an updated empirical remote sensing product and perform extensive ground-truthing of seafloor with 2,542 diver surveys across remote sensing tiles. We also leverage seafloor assessments and movement data obtained from instrument-equipped tiger sharks, which have strong fidelity to seagrass ecosystems, to augment and further validate predictions. We report a consensus area of at least 66,000 km2 and up to 92,000 km2 of seagrass habitat across The Bahamas Banks. Sediment core analysis of stored organic carbon further confirmed the global relevance of the blue carbon stock in this ecosystem. Data from tiger sharks proved important in supporting mapping and ground-truthing remote sensing estimates. This work provides evidence of major knowledge gaps in the ocean ecosystem, the benefits in partnering with marine animals to address these gaps, and underscores support for rapid protection of oceanic carbon sinks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tiger sharks support the characterization of the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem

Gallagher¹,

Brownscombe

Alsudairy

et al. 2022

Nat Commun

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“…Coral reefs sheltering tropical bays and lagoons provide favorable conditions for the growth of seagrass. Seagrass meadows minimize erosion of sandy beaches by stabilizing the sediment and dissipating waves both during calm and hurricane conditions (James et al, 2019(James et al, , 2020. Healthy vegetated foreshore ecosystems, therefore, play an important role in mitigating coastal flooding caused by natural hazards and increases the resistance of coastal areas to storm surges.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Tropical Cyclones on the Caribbean Under Future Climate Conditions

et al. 2021

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Joint effects of the dynamic sea‐level rise projected changes in the large‐scale atmosphere/ocean circulation, and wave climate on hurricane‐induced extreme water levels in the Caribbean region are assessed. We use the 2D‐depth integrated ADCIRC + SWAN wave‐ocean model, baroclinically coupled to an ocean‐eddying version of the Community Earth System Model, to compare impacts of the September 2017 hurricanes with projected impacts of similar hypothetical tropical storms occurring in the future. The model predicts only minor changes in the hurricane‐induced extreme water levels for those Caribbean islands which were severely devastated by the 2017 tropical storms (Irma and Maria). That is, provided that the hurricane intensity remains at the present‐day level, the global mean sea‐level rise is the main future coastal flood risk factor.

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“…Accordingly, the similitude of the inertia, the gravitation, and the viscosity forces, between the real and the model could still be retained (Zeller et al, 2014). Likewise, the characteristics of seagrasses are essential for predicting the wave dissipation parameter in numerical models (van Rooijen et al, 2016b;James et al, 2021;Yin et al, 2021). However, the literature related to Indonesian seagrasses remains limited or non-existence.…”

Section: The Identification Of Indonesian Seagrass Physical Character...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrodynamics across seagrass meadows and its impacts on Indonesian coastal ecosystems: A review

Risandi¹,

Rifai²,

Lukman³

et al. 2023

Front. Earth Sci.

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Seagrass canopies are important components of the world’s coastal environments providing critical ecological services. Nearshore hydrodynamics, i.e., waves and currents, are essential in controlling the ecological processes across coastal environments. Seagrass meadows can impose more complex hydrodynamics processes by attenuating sea-swell waves and decreasing the impact of nearshore mean water level rise due to wave setup and Infragravity (IG) waves. Consequently, the seagrasses dissipate waves and reduce flows allowing sediments to settle and accrete the shorelines. However, despite their significant roles, knowledge of hydrodynamics in the Indonesian seagrass ecosystems is relatively limited compared to other coastal ecosystems such as sandy beaches, mangroves, and coral reefs. This review highlights the dynamics of waves and currents, and their interaction with sediment transport and ecological processes, including biogeochemical and dispersal processes on the seagrass ecosystem contributing to the existing seagrass research in Indonesia. The associated literature is collected from scientific databases such as Scopus and Google Scholar that range between 1965 and 2021. The result showed that most of the research on hydrodynamic in seagrass ecosystems was carried out in temperate zones. Until recently, there have been limited publications discussing the interaction between the Indonesian (tropical) seagrass ecosystem and hydrodynamics parameters, even though the region has abundant seagrass species. Moreover, Indonesia is strongly influenced by various atmospheric-oceanic forcing, including the Asian monsoon affecting the dynamic of the coastal area with seagrass ecosystems. At a canopy scale, the correlation between the nearshore (tropical) hydrodynamics and ecological processes in the system is yet to be explored. Considering the potential benefit of seagrasses to coastal ecosystems, developing future research in hydrodynamics across the ecosystem is critical to overcoming the knowledge gaps in Indonesia. The knowledge gained could support the Indonesian seagrass ecosystem services and their resilience to potential hazards and climate change.

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Tropical Biogeomorphic Seagrass Landscapes for Coastal Protection: Persistence and Wave Attenuation During Major Storms Events

Cited by 33 publications

References 69 publications

Tiger sharks support the characterization of the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem

Tiger sharks support the characterization of the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem

Impacts of Tropical Cyclones on the Caribbean Under Future Climate Conditions

Hydrodynamics across seagrass meadows and its impacts on Indonesian coastal ecosystems: A review

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