EELGRASS

Latin Name: Zostera marina

Seagrasses create underwater forests in many estuarine and coastal areas worldwide. These ecosystems are critical in contributing to human wellbeing; providing habitat and foraging opportunities for many fisheries species, maintaining water quality, coastal protection, mitigation against ocean acidification and carbon sequestration. Being in coastal areas, they are subject to both local (e.g. pollution, overfishing) and global threats (climate change, species invasions) and they are declining worldwide. Eelgrass is the most widespread seagrass species in the world, colonizing most of the northern hemisphere. Studying this species allows us not only to undertake large-scale ecological questions by comparing ecosystem functioning across its distribution range but, also to address conservation questions that are important at local, regional and global scales. In particular, through a worldwide collaborative network, FWCS affiliates have been examining general questions in ecology, such as the relative role of top-down vs. bottom-up controls in driving ecosystem structure and functioning, as well as quantifying carbon stocks provided by eelgrass at a global scale. In addition, FWCS affiliates have been examining potential effects of nutrient pollution and the invasion of the non-native seagrass Z. japonica on Oregon eelgrass beds, as well as interactions between aquaculture and eelgrass along the Pacific Northwest in order to provide accurate data for managers dealing with water quality, seagrass conservation and aquaculture regulations. 

Publications:

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecy.2064

https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/wh246z218

https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/44558k18z

Seagrant work: http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/research/current-research/vulnerability-oregon-seagrass-beds-eutrophication

Zostera Experimental Network: http://zenscience.org/