Towards recognition of seagrasses, and their sustainable management

Editorial [No abstract available

Seagrass meadows globally as a coupled social–ecological system: Implications for human wellbeing

Seagrass ecosystems are diminishing worldwide and repeated studies confirm a lack of appreciation for the value of these systems. In order to highlight their value we provide the first discussion of seagrass meadows as a coupled social–ecological system on a global scale. We consider the impact of a declining resource on people, including those for whom seagrass meadows are utilised for income generation and a source of food security through fisheries support. Case studies from across the globe are used to demonstrate the intricate relationship between seagrass meadows and people that highlight the multi-functional role of seagrasses in human wellbeing. While each case underscores unique issues, these examples simultaneously reveal social–ecological coupling that transcends cultural and geographical boundaries. We conclude that understanding seagrass meadows as a coupled social–ecological system is crucial in carving pathways for social and ecological resilience in light of current patterns of local to global environmental change

Seagrass meadows support global fisheries production

The significant role seagrass meadows play in supporting fisheries productivity and food security across the globe is not adequately reflected in the decisions made by authorities with statutory responsibility for their management. We provide a unique global analysis of three data sources to present the case for why seagrass meadows need targeted policy to recognize and protect their role in supporting fisheries production and food security. (1) Seagrass meadows provide valuable nursery habitat to over 1/5th of the world's largest 25 fisheries, including Walleye Pollock, the most landed species on the planet. (2) In complex small‐scale fisheries from around the world (poorly represented in fisheries statistics), we present evidence that many of those in proximity to seagrass are supported to a large degree by these habitats. (3) We reveal how intertidal fishing activity in seagrass is a global phenomenon, often directly supporting human livelihoods. Our study demonstrates that seagrasses should be recognized and managed to maintain and maximize their role in global fisheries production. The chasm that exists between coastal habitat conservation and fisheries management needs to be filled to maximize the chances of seagrass meadows supporting fisheries, so that they can continue to support human wellbeing

One hundred priority questions for advancing seagrass conservation in Europe

17 pages, 2 figures.-- Open AccessSeagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services including biodiversity, coastal protection, and carbon sequestration. In Europe, seagrasses can be found in shallow sheltered waters along coastlines, in estuaries & lagoons, and around islands, but their distribution has declined. Factors such as poor water quality, coastal modification, mechanical damage, overfishing, land-sea interactions, climate change and disease have reduced the coverage of Europe’s seagrasses necessitating their recovery. Research, monitoring and conservation efforts on seagrass ecosystems in Europe are mostly uncoordinated and biased towards certain species and regions, resulting in inadequate delivery of critical information for their management. Here, we aim to identify the 100 priority questions, that if addressed would strongly advance seagrass monitoring, research and conservation in Europe. Using a Delphi method, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with seagrass experience from across Europe and with diverse seagrass expertise participated in the process that involved the formulation of research questions, a voting process and an online workshop to identify the final list of the 100 questions. The final list of questions covers areas across nine themes: Biodiversity & Ecology; Ecosystem services; Blue carbon; Fishery support; Drivers, Threats, Resilience & Response; Monitoring & Assessment; Conservation & Restoration; Governance, Policy & Management; and Communication. Answering these questions will fill current knowledge gaps and place European seagrass onto a positive trajectory of recoveryThis project was initiated and carried out under the EuroSea project using funding from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Oragnisation. Additional support was from the UK Natural Environment Research Council RESOW grant to Swansea University (NE/V016385/1). The EuroSea project is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 862626. Thanks to Toste Tanhua and Emma Heslop for their supporting this process. Thanks are due to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDB/50017/2020 + UIDP/50017/2020 + LA/P/0094/2020), through PT national funds. Financial support from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Technologia was also provided through the research contract to A.I. Sousa (CEECIND/00962/2017)Peer reviewe

People and the intertidal : human induced changes, biodiversity loss, livelihood implications and management in the Western Indian Ocean

Vad händer i tidvattenzonen? Var går gränsen mellan land och hav, vad händer i tidvattenzonen och vem ansvarar för detta? I västra Indiska oceanen (VIO) kan avståndet mellan den lägsta nivån för lågvattnet och den högsta nivån för högvattnet vara flera kilometer och nivåskillnaderna upp till 6 meter och detta skapar ett stort och föränderligt område. Syftet med min avhandling är att öka förståelsen för tidvattenzonen i tropiska och subtropiska västra Indiska oceanen. Sammanfattningsvis visar mina studier att det finns ett mycket stort värde i den komplexa tidvattenzonen, men också att det här området hotas från både land och hav, genom t.ex. överexploatering, erosion och föroreningar. Uttnyttjandet av tidvattenzonen är stort och min avhandling har visat att aktiviteter såsom fiske i form av plocking av musslor och andra ryggradslösa djur och hamnaktiviteter påverkar den biologiska mångfalden negativt, vilket leder till försämrad levnadsstandard för resursutnyttjande människor i regionen. För att förbättra situationen krävs det mer forskning, miljöövervakning och bättre förvaltning av tidvattenzonen. Experter i regionen har rangordnat förslag på förvaltningsstrategier som skulle kunna testas för att förbättra miljön och skapa ett mer hållbart nyttjande. Avhandlingen visar även att det är möjligt att använda fjärranalysteknik såsom satellitbildsanalys för att kvantifiera mängden sjögräsvegetation (i form av biomassa), vilket kan ha stor betydelse för att förbättra storskalig miljöövervakning av kustnära naturtyper (habitat). I avhandlingsarbetet har jag använt mig av ett multidisciplinärt tillvägagångssätt och använt metoder såsom ekologisk och biologisk provtagning, intervjuer, observationer, diskussionsgrupper, frågeformulär och fjärranalys. Resultaten presenterade i denna avhandling ger en ökad kunskap om tidvattenzonen i utvecklingsländerna inom VIO-regionen som kan användas för att initiera och fortsätta att utveckla hållbara förvaltningsstrategier av biologiska resurser.The intertidal zone in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) provides several important ecosystem services, but the intertidal is experiencing an accelerating loss of habitats and biodiversity, due to among other factors, an increasing human population, overexploitation of resources, poverty and the pressures of economic development. The major aim of this thesis was to achieve a better understanding of the intertidal zone in the tropical and subtropical WIO. The specific objectives were to examine the intertidal zone, investigate how human induced changes affect biodiversity and in turn local livelihood, as well as to assess potential sustainable management strategies. Paper I provides an overview of the state of and pressure on the intertidal area in the WIO (from experts’ opinions) and concludes that there is a lack of research, monitoring and management as well as understanding of the intertidal zone in the WIO. It also provides suggestions of possible management strategies to improve the situation of human dominated and overexploited intertidal ecosystems. Papers II and III show clear negative biological and ecological effects of invertebrate harvesting (gleaning/collection of e.g. molluscs) and harbour activities. Paper III describes the general fishing strategy among local women and their opinion that both seagrass habitats and diversity/abundance of associated invertebrate species have decreased during the last decade, as well as the attempt to understand social-ecological processes of invertebrate harvesting and the subsequent biodiversity loss, including major negative effects on livelihood and income. Paper IV shows that remote sensing can be used to estimate intertidal habitat distribution and seagrass biomass even in challenging patchy multi species environments, and that this approach has a clear potential as a monitoring tool for large intertidal areas of the WIO. The thesis concludes that there is a low formal understanding of most ecosystems in the intertidal zone of the WIO, and thus this environment receives very little attention and is not prioritized for research, monitoring and management. The low formal understanding also leads to unregulated use in several of the systems, which can cause negative effects and impacts on biodiversity, local people’s economy and livelihood. Therefore, increased research and monitoring as well as improved management and conservation of the intertidal zone in the WIO are urgently needed

Teaching ecology at university—Inspiration for change

How do you, as a university lecturer, change from teacher-centered teaching to a more student-centered, active teaching? This paper aims to inspire you to make a change, big or small, to increase your students’ engagement and learning, by presenting suggestions on what you can do. The ideas and suggestions synthesized here are based on several different teaching philosophies and methods, which are well tested and shown to be effective in the right setting. The selection of suggestions is believed to be specifically suitable for ecology. The paper includes suggestions on how to plan a course or a lecture by setting a good learning environment. Both pre-lecture activities and during lecture activities are included, with a focus on activities to engage students and encourage increased discussion and reflections, as well as what to think about when choosing learning activities and how and why it is important to teach students to think and act like professionals in ecology. While changing teaching methods takes investment of time, time that is limited for many researchers, even small changes in your teaching can make big differences in learning, and the investment will hopefully pay back by making teaching more fun and rewarding. The suggestions presented are understandable without being be conversant in the ‘education literature’, but will provide you with a vocabulary of teaching activities that will be useful if you are inspired to find more information and learn more about teaching

Habitat maps of two intertidal gleaning areas in Zanzibar, Tanzania, derived from Indo-Pacific Seagrass Network surveys conducted between 29th November - 8th December 2018

Ground truthing data taken as part of a habitat mapping survey of Nyamanzi and Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar (Tanzania), conducted between 29th November -8th December 2018. These two sites are participating sites in the Indo-Pacific Seagrass Network (https://indopacificseagrass.network/), and are being investigated as part of a large-scale data collaboration project on seagrass-associated gleaning in the Indo-Pacific region. Habitat maps derived from this data are intended to demonstrate the distribution of different intertidal habitats within the seascape of study sites. This approach allows a robust ground-truthing method useful in determining the habitat composite of intertidal gleaning areas, and how characteristics of the seascape could potentially facilitate gleaning fisheries. The mapping survey methodology followed the protocol established by the Indo Pacific Seagrass Network (IPSN) and involved in situ assessments, at low tide periods. The observers transpassed the intertidal area on foot to record the habitat type, GPS coordinates and water depth at survey points. Data point sampling was undertaken in a non-random fashion, ensuring that each data point was encompassed by a 5m radius of homogenous habitat. Data points of the same habitat-type were collected a minimum of 50m apart. As this was a seagrass-focused study, the level of coverage for seagrass survey points were additionally recorded, (i.e. sparse, intermediate or dense coverage). Surveys and GPS coordinates were undertaken using an IPSN form on the ODK Collect app

Social-ecological system analysis of an invertebrate gleaning fishery on the island of Unguja, Zanzibar

Invertebrate gleaning is a small-scale fishery that commonly occurs in the intertidal zone across the tropical Indo-Pacific. In this study, we investigated and analyzed several components of this fishery on the island of Unguja, Zanzibar by employing the social-ecological systems framework from Ostrom 2009. In doing so, we conducted ecological surveys, catch assessments, interviews with gleaners, household surveys, focus group interviews and analyzed the governance structure. This social-ecological systems analysis showed that gleaning is important for food security, local culture and livelihood. Yet, the multiple approaches in our study revealed that the local intertidal zone is degrading and that the gleaned catch is changing. Local narratives indicate that economically important bivalves (Modiolus spp.) and gastropods (Strombus spp.) are in decline, which was paralleled with low abundances of both genera within the ecological survey of the intertidal and catch landing assessment. We recommend that invertebrate gleaning, a fishery mainly comprised of women should be included in fisheries management

Coastal aquaculture in Zanzibar, Tanzania

This study provides an overview of the multi-sectoral coastal aquaculture development in Zanzibar (Tanzania) over the last thirty years based on empirical evidence from interviews, field observations, policy reports and literature reviews. Despite the immense potential of aquaculture for food and livelihoods, only seaweed farming has so far established into commercial-scale production. This activity is dominated by women and became widespread in the early 1990s as a small but regular source of income. However, seaweed farming constraints such as frequent seaweed die-offs, as well as economic and institutional constraints inhibit its development. Other types of aquaculture activities such as fish farming, mud crab fattening, half-pearl farming, sea cucumber farming and sponge and coral cultures are under development with limited production or in experimental stages. Common constraints among these activities are economic limitations, lack of technical infrastructure and skills, small and irregular production, and limited trade and market availabilities. At the same time, there is a lack of sufficient management and monitoring systems, while there are no formal regulations or clear strategies to boost aquaculture at the national level. In addition, new aquaculture initiatives are often dominated by donor-driven projects instead of local entrepreneurships. This situation does not encourage engagement in aquaculture and thus such activities are outcompeted by other already established sectors (e.g. agriculture and fisheries). We conclude that aquaculture has great potential to evolve due to high environmental capacity. Nevertheless, achieving profitable production and a stronger commitment within local communities, as well as developing effective mariculture governance through support mechanisms and clear strategies to boost the sector at the national level, are essential for sustainable mariculture development in Zanzibar