The fundamental role of ecological feedback mechanisms for the adaptive management of seagrass ecosystems - a review

Seagrass meadows are vital ecosystems in coastal zones worldwide, but are also under global threat. One of themajor hurdles restricting the success of seagrass conservation and restoration is our limited understanding of ecologicalfeedback mechanisms. In these ecosystems, multiple, self-reinforcing feedbacks can undermine conservation efforts bymasking environmental impacts until the decline is precipitous, or alternatively they can inhibit seagrass recovery inspite of restoration efforts. However, no clear framework yet exists for identifying or dealing with feedbacks to improvethe management of seagrass ecosystems. Here we review the causes and consequences of multiple feedbacks betweenseagrass and biotic and/or abiotic processes. We demonstrate how feedbacks have the potential to impose or reinforceregimes of either seagrass dominance or unvegetated substrate, and how the strength and importance of these feedbacksvary across environmental gradients. Although a myriad of feedbacks have now been identified, the co-occurrence andlikely interaction among feedbacks has largely been overlooked to date due to difficulties in analysis and detection.Here we take a fundamental step forward by modelling the interactions among two distinct above- and belowgroundfeedbacks to demonstrate that interacting feedbacks are likely to be important for ecosystem resilience. On this basis, wepropose a five-step adaptive management plan to address feedback dynamics for effective conservation and restorationstrategies. The management plan provides guidance to aid in the identification and prioritisation of likely feedbacks indifferent seagrass ecosystem