Editorial: Current advances in seagrass research

Abstract

Seagrasses are of great ecological importance, forming large “meadows” in all continents except Antarctica and providing vital ecosystem services including primary production, carbon storage, nutrient cycling, habitat structure, and coastal protection. Seagrasses provide shelter and act as a nursery ground for commercially important small fish and invertebrates. Human activity, however, is having profound impacts on marine ecosystems, including seagrass communities. Over the last few decades anthropogenic changes, including reduced water quality, increased temperature, increased sediment loads, and higher grazing pressure, have caused global declines in seagrass populations and the area coverage of seagrass beds. Due to the valuable ecosystem services that seagrasses provide along coastlines all over the world, strategies to increase recovery of seagrass meadows are being developed; however, further research on seagrass distribution, responses to abiotic and biotic stressors and how that impacts the recovery process, acclimation or adaptation potential, and resilience to environmental change is required to support these strategies. For many regions, the exact distribution and coverage of seagrass are not well known, and simple methods to reliably detect changes in seagrass coverage need to be established for the development of locally successful conservation methods. This Research topic, therefore, aimed to advance seagrass research by bringing together different perspectives on seagrasses that highlight their ecological importance and the effects of anthropogenic pressures, as well as the potential for its recovery and restoration.