Seagrass communities

Grassy plants growing mostly submerged condition in marine

habitats are called seagrasses. e.g., Zostera marina

There are 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to

four families namely, Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae,
Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae, Order: Alismatales.
Seagrass evolved from terrestrial plants which migrated back into
the ocean about 75-100 myb.

They most closely related to plant in the Class Helobiae and are
not true grasses of the Family Poaceae
Seagrasses having adapted to a submerged aquatic environment,
the morphological and anatomical features that are similar to
freshwater hydrophytes. However, there is sufficient variation in
reproduction and structure to indicate the independent evolution of
species
Den Hartog (1970) recorded 49 species and 12 genera in two
families, namely, the Hydrocharitaceae and Potamogetonaceae of
the Class Helobiae (Monocotyledonous)
Underwater strands of Zostera marina
 C

A, Flower, B Germanitng, C Inflorescence

Vegetative and reproductive stages of Z. marina

Zostera marina L: widely distributed in temperate North Atlantic and
eastern Pacific habitats; it extends to the Arctic circle as well as in the
Mediterranean and Black Sea. Primarily grows occurs sub tidally,
occasionally intertidal zones, perennial, reserves carbohydrate in
rhizome for survival if leaves are removed
Morphology: Monopodial growth, producing one or more thick,
unbranched roots and leaf sheaths at each node on the 2-3 mm dia
rhizome. Internode are 10-35 mm long, with short shoots, arising at
regular intervals to produce flat, ribbon-shaped leaves having 5-11
parallel veins. Leaves develop from a basal meristem and are
distichously arranged. The lower part of the leaf forms a sheet that is
compressed and persistent. Two to three spathes can occur on a
single short shoot, each bearing up to 10 male and female flowers.
The spadix sheath is sessile on a short shoot, with male and female
flowers being alternately arranged. The ovary develops before the
stamen and the single plant can produce 200 seeds in a season.
Seeds cylindrical 1×2 mm in size, and have up to 20 ribs.
Thalassia testudinum Banks ex König, commonly known as Turtle
grass, Fam.: Hydrocharitaceae occurs throughout the Caribbean, its
sister species T. hemprichii is found in the Indian Ocean and western
Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, East coast of Florida to Cape Kennedy. Its
southern distribution is limited to Columbia and Venezuela, forms
extensively meadows at 10-15 in highly transparent water, at a salinity
25 ppt, grow vegetatively, seed production is in tropical waters.
Morphology: terete rhizome, 3-6 mm dia, internodes 4-7 mm long with
scale leaves; single unbranched anchoring roots develop from each
node, which contain internal channels, near root apices, delicate root
hairs develop. Leaves are 2 cm wide and differentiated into a persistent
colourless basal sheath, a chlorophyll bearing blade, 9-17 parallel veins.
Dioecious, with separate male and female flowers borne on short
peduncles, male flower contain 3-12 sub-sessile stamen, female 6-8
carpels, style divided into filiform stigma. Pollen grains are spherical,
embedded in mucilage and arranged in moniliform chains, fruit globose
with pointed tip.
Classification: Key to the Genera
Morphological adaptations
Effects of environmental factors on the body form of organisms
In relation to the response to water by a plant, there are three different
kinds in general
These are mesophytes, hydrophytes and xerophytes.
Mesophytes grow on substratum where the ambient environment is air and
nutritive soil, water is of medium requirement supplied to the plants by all
sorts of wet precipitation and atmospheric vapour
Hydrophytes grow on substratum where the ambient environment is
nutritive fresh- or saline water and or submerged soil
Xerophytes grow on substratum where the ambient environment is desert,
water is of little in availability, usually supplied from wet precipitation and
atmospheric vapour
In adapting submerged habitat seagrasses have evolved characteristics of
hydrophytic features. The morphological adaptive features of sea grasses
should be addressed based on five abiotic properties
(1) osmotic effects of salt water
(2) availability of dissolved CO2 and nutrients
(3) intensity and quality of submarine illumination
(4) higher density (than air) and mechanical drag of an aqueous medium
(5) effects of an aquatic medium in the dispersal of pollen and seeds
Morphological characteristics of seagrasses
(i) creeping rhizome and apical meristem, which produce one or
more roots and erect short shoots at each node
(ii) Root adventitious, thick to fibrous in form, root cap and root hairs
present
(iii) Rhizome is an underground primary stem, herbaceous, branching
sympodial or monopodial, cylindrical to compressed
(iv) The clonal nature of seagrass is demonstrated by its persistent
rhizome and production of short shoots. Thus the individual genet
(genetic individual) consists of a series of interconnected ramets
or short shoots
(v) Clonal nature is caused by persistent rhizome and production of
short shoots, helping vegetative extension of the plant
(vi) Short shoots mostly produce flowers and foliage leaves, basal leaf
sheath (colourless) present in all sea grasses except Halophila
(vii) In Posidonia australis, leaf sheath provide a gradient in osmotic
pressure which higher concentration of sucrose and amino acids
occurring at the bases which protects the meristematic leaf cells
against the sea water
(viii)Most cases leaves are flexible yet strong due to the internal fibre
bundles, with this they can adapt denser medium with strong
current
(ix) Leaves may be flat, narrow, thin, terete
Anatomical adaptation
(i) occurrence of airspaces or lacunae, formed by schizogonous
breakdown of cells and aerenchyma
(ii) Air chambers are continuous in larger seagrasses and extends leaf
blade, short shoots, rhizomes and roots
(iii) Provide gas exchange throughout the plant, lacunae have diaphragms
or septae that have pores which allow air but not water to prevent
flooding
(iv) Root hairs develop from epidermal cells adjacent to transfer cells to
the exodermis, facilitates lateral conduction of nutrients and water into
cortex
(v) Contains air channels, xylary elements, peripheral phloem all are
present
(vi) Epidermal cells of seagrass blades lack stomata and associated guard
cells, contain chloroplasts
(vii) Outer wall thick covered by a porous thin cuticle, it does not prevent
absorption of CO2, Cd, Mn, etc. by the blade
(viii)Thin cuticle not protective to desiccation, in spring low tide the grass
bed may become exposed and suffer dessication, this time
desiccation is guarded by overlapping leaf blades rather than
epidermal protection
Comparison between the anatomy of a mesophyte plant (wheat)
and a seagrass will reveal the adaptive features

Wheat leaf TS
Turtle grass leaf TS
Physiology
Seagrass physiology also shows adaptations to a submerged marine
habit. Thus their rhizomaceous growth habit, the use of rhizomes as
storage organs, and the occurrence of a lacunar system for gas
exchange are all adaptive features
Seagrass must successfully adapt to nine possible marine stresses
to survive: salinity, temperature, water motion, anerobiosis, nutrient
limitation, epiphytes, irradiance, infection and herbivory
There are at least two possible advantages for being clonal
(1) The ability to carry out vegetative expansion or foraging and sharing
resources between ramets growing in areas of stress or low nutrients.
In a study of clonal high marsh grass Spartina patens, it was found
that severed ramets produced the high levels of osmoticum proline
whereas intact ramets did not. It means there are physiological
integration between ramets, with water being transported from intact
ramets to those growing in high salinity conditions.
(2) Further, rhizomes and short shoots adjacent to shaded short shoots
showed a depletion of soluble carbohydrate and protein, whereas
those with severed rhizomes did not. Thus the rhizomes and short
shots function to mobilise sugars and amino acids to short shoots,
whose productivity and growth are lowered due to shading.
Specific differences in vegetative growth among seagrasses
Halodule wrightii - shows aggressive growth but others (Thalassia
testudinum) do not. Species that exhibit aggressive growth are often
chosen for revegetation of disturbed areas.
For example: H. wrightii is preferred over Z. marina and T. Testudinum
for transplanting. The types of growth (foraging) strategies is similar to
that of terrestrial clonal plants.
guerilla strategy: rhizomes of H. wrightii, has the ability to reduce
branching frequency and can speed rapidly with the main shoot in a
heterogenous habit.
phalanx strategy: shown by Z. marina and T. testudinia whose rhizomes
with the ability to branch more extensively and through slow, steady
growth take advantage of available nutrients
Organic composition
As with other flowering plants, the proximate constituents of different
seagrasses show pronounced seasonal and interspecific variations.
Rhizomes are the primary storage organ for soluble carbohydrates and
proteins in most of the seagrasses. They are the sources of soluble
carbohydrates and protein for regrowth of cropped blades and for
initiation of spring blade growth.
Proximate constituents of protein, lipid, and soluble carbohydrate in
seagrasses leaf and rhizome (values within parenthesis)

Soluble
Species Protein (%) Lipid (%)
carbohydrate (%)

2.5-3.4
10-14 8-19
Zostera marina (0.6-2.8)
(4-8) (31-59)

3.7-4.3 1.9-3.2 13-19

Posidonea oceanica
(4.5-4.8) (1.3-1.6) (40-47)

8-22 0.9-4 6-9

Thalassia testudinum
(7-16) (0.2-1.6) (12-36)

8-13 1.7-6.2 16-22

Syringodium filiforme
(5-12) (<0.1-4.7) (36-50)

14-19 1-3.2 13-19

Halodule wrightii
(7-9) (<0.1-1.6) (40-54)
Photosynthesis
Seagrasses are shade loving plant, with compensation values Ic = 25-50
μM photons/m2/s and saturation irradiance Ik of less than 200 μM
photons/m2/s. However, these values temperature and salinity dependent.
Seagrasses photaclimate to low irradiance via increased photosynthetic
efficiency (𝜶), decreased Ic and Ik, and increased chlorophyll content. It is
predicted that seagrasses will colonise greater depths than freshwater
angiosperms as long as the water transparencies are greater than 11% of
surface irradiance.
Depth distribution
Differences in depth distribution (Ze) in seagrass communities are due to
differences in the light attention coefficient (K), as determined by a Secchi
disc, and expressed in the following equation
Ze=0.26-1.07logK (per m)
Reduction of light via shading will limit photosynthesis in Z. marina and
decrease Pmax leading to death. Turbidity and resulting light attenuation
are critical abiotic factors in the survival and distribution of seagrasses.
However, if death occurs in an area, localised persistence of H. wrightii
was observed to be carried out due to utilisation of stored reserves and
reclamation of nutrients. Most of the seagrasses are C3 plants.
Internal gas transport inside the cells of seagrasses has been
shown in the following scheme
Adaptation and ecological roles of seagrasses
(1) serve as sediment traps by acting as baffles and stabilising
bottom sediments, which will improve water qualtiy
(2) Except for siphonaceous green algae, seagrasses are the only
submerged marine macrophytes that are rooted and depend on
the sediment for their nutrients.
(3) Below ground portion i.e., roots, rhizomes, short shoots may
reach 90% of their total biomass.
(4) Physically and chemically change the sediment through release
of oxygen, decomposition of subterranean parts, and
bioturbidation through growth of their roots and rhizomes.
(5) Chemical components wrought by the below ground
components are critical for survival because high level of
sulfides and anoxic condition are toxic to the plants. Higher
sulphide may help grow slime parasite to kill the seagrasses.
(6) Nearly 6-28% of the fixed C14 fixes by Halodule wrightii balder
during photosynthesis was released in the sediments by the
rhizome and roots within six hours. The excreted organic
compounds support bacterial activity, causing elemental cycles
like nitrification in the sediments
Causes of seagrass losses
Natural and human induced disturbances cause the losses of
seagrasses
Natural causes
(i) Volcanic activity to blowouts by waves and currents and
tropical storms
(ii) Overgrazing by urchins, dugongs, manatees, etc.,
competition, bioturbidadion and disease
Anthropogenic effects
(i) Seagrass dieback have resulted because of oil spill
(ii) Release of hot water from thermal and nuclear power plants
(iii) Eutrophication i.e., addition of nutrient rich pollutants from
domestic, agricultural and industrial set ups
(iv) Eutrophication could enhance the growth of photosynthetic
epiphytes blocking the photosynthetic part of the blades of
seagrasses. Phytoplankton bloom could cut light and disturb.
(v) Dredging could directly remove the seagrass biomass and
create turbid environment which hampers the regeneration of
the plants
(vi) Net trawling for fishing activities, propeller cuts during the
movement of sea vehicles could cause damage to the
seagrass beds
(vii) Exotic green algae Caulerpa could outcompete seagrass
Posidonia oceania in the Mediterranean seas,
Importance of seagrass
(i) Harvesting of wrack for fodder, paper pulp and rhizome (Z. marina) as
direct food
(ii) Replanted in disturbed habitat to stabilize after dredging and
damaged beds
(iii) The Seri Indians on the Gulf of California use Z. marina to make dolls
using dried grass blades. They also harvest the fruit and make flour
from the seeds
(iv) As a source plant for making aquaria, outdoor tanks, etc. for
beautification
(v) Seagrass provide spaces to grow for epiphytes which are utilised by
number of grazers
(vi) Other animals like tube dwelling polychaete, bryozoans, colonial sea
squirts also grow on the blades of seagrasses
(vii) Seagrasses have significant role in releasing DOM and POM into the
sea water
Epiphytic communities on leaf blade of seagrass
Seagrass in the coast of Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh
Occurrence of seagrass bed in the coastal region of Bangladesh has not
yet been discovered. So far sporadic occurrence of four species from each
of the Genus Halodule and Halophila was reported

This species (Fam.: Cymodoceaceae) was found in St.

Martin’s Island of the coasts of Bay of Bengal
Internodes 1.1-2.1 cm long. One pair of leaves at each node, one at the
axil of the other being ensheathed fo a distance, linear, ribbon-like,
smooth, 3-10 cm long, only sterile materials were collected with no
flowers (Fam.: Cymodoceaceae)
Description: Erect plants arising from slender, branched rhizome. Rhizome about 1 mm in
dia with internodes 1-3 cm long, with one root per node. Each of the shoots carries 4-8
leaves. Leaves 1.0-2.5×2.0 cm, lanceolate, apex acute, base attenuate, sometimes with
minutely-serrated edges, with 3 longitudinal veins without cross veins.
Habitat: Muddy sediment in estuarine inter-tidal habitat.
Distribution: Widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region between the Tropic of
Cancer and the Equator covering countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam,
the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia. In Bangladesh it was collected from the
Cox’s Bazar district
Description: Plant harbeceous, small, creeping horizontally on the substratum; bright
green, rhizome 0.5-1.0 mm, leaf oval cylindric, 1.0-1.8 cm × 3-5 mm, petiole long, leaf
pair develop from each node; internode 1.0-2.5 cm long; spathe contains one male and
one female flower, anther 1 mm long, pedicel 3 mm long, ovary ovoid, 1 mm long,
styles 3 in number, 2.5 mm long. Fruits broadly ellipsoid 2-3 ×1.5-2.0 mm, seeds
smooth.
Distribution: Widely distributed in the Tropical Indian and Pacific Ocean as well as in
the Caribbean. Its type locality is in Thailand. It has also been reported from Malaysia,
General comment
Seagrasses - originated from freshwater, estuarine hydrophytic
relatives or from xerophytic salt marsh like plants, probably arose in
mid- to late Cretaceous (65-40 mio ybp) after Angiosperms, began to
evolve and spread on land ca. 120 mio ybp.

Found on all continents, except Antarctica. Seven genera occur in

tropical seas and five in temperate waters. Species of all seven
tropical genera occur in Indo-West Pacific - region of highest diversity,
whereas neotropical Caribbean has four genera.

Only two species are common to both parts of world i.e., Halophila
decipiens and Halodule wrightii. This disjunct distribution of most
species of seagrass suggests a long period of separation and
diversification from centers of origin,

Vicariance hypothesis may explain existence of following sister

species.
Indo-West Pacific Caribbean
Thalassia hemperichii T. testudinium
Syringodium isoetifolium S. filiforme
Halodule uninervis H. wrightii