Data presented in the paper “Water motion and vegetation control the pH dynamics in seagrass-dominated bays”

This dataset contains data collected from three sites on the eastern side of St Martin, Caribbean. A sheltered site (Galion Bay), exposed site (Orient Bay) and a site with strong unidirectional flow currents (Islets de L’embouchure). Monitoring of diurnal pH, waves, vegetation cover, light and temperature were conducted at each site. Additionally, an experiment was conducted at the unidirectional flow site to investigate the influence of water residence time and vegetation on diurnal pH fluctuations. Detailed information can be found in the published paper

Data presented in the paper “Tropical biogeomorphic seagrass landscapes for coastal protection: persistence and wave attenuation during major storm events“

This dataset contains data collected in Saint Martin, Caribbean. Vegetation surveys were conducted before and after the 2017 Hurricane season in which category 5 Hurricane Irma directly hit the island. The 1D wave propagation model, XBeach, was used to model wave propagation over the seagrass meadow in Baie de L'embouchure in normal and hurricane-like conditions. Biomechanical measurements were conducted on the dominant seagrass and algae species within the meadow to investigate their tolerance to drag forces

Data presented in the paper "Hydrodynamic consequences of gaps in seagrass meadows: dependence on gap size, meadow density, shoot length and water depth"

The objective of the research was to investigate the hydrodynamics of gaps in seagrass meadows via a laboratory flume experiment using an artificial seagrass meadow. The raw data consisted of velocity profiles collected in the NIOZ recirculating flume using an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter

Recent trends reversal for declimimg European seagrass meadows

Seagrass meadows, key ecosystems supporting fisheries, carbon sequestration and coastal protection, are globally threatened. In Europe, loss and recovery of seagrasses are reported, but the changes in extent and density at the continental scale remain unclear. Here we collate assessments of changes from 1869 to 2016 and show that 1/3 of European seagrass area was lost due to disease, deteriorated water quality, and coastal development, with losses peaking in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, loss rates slowed down for most of the species and fastgrowing species recovered in some locations, making the net rate of change in seagrass area experience a reversal in the 2000s, while density metrics improved or remained stable in most sites. Our results demonstrate that decline is not the generalised state among seagrasses nowadays in Europe, in contrast with global assessments, and that deceleration and reversal of declining trends is possible, expectingly bringing back the services they provide