Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-9q27g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T12:56:54.050Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Species-specific effects of seagrass on belowground biomass, redox potential and Pillucina vietnamica (Lucinidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2015

Ekkalak Rattanachot  and
Anchana Prathep
Ekkalak Rattanachot
Affiliation:
Seaweed and Seagrass Research Unit, Excellence Centre for Biodiversity of Peninsular Thailand, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla 90112, Thailand
Anchana Prathep*
Affiliation:
Seaweed and Seagrass Research Unit, Excellence Centre for Biodiversity of Peninsular Thailand, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla 90112, Thailand
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A. Prathep, Seaweed and Seagrass Research Unit, Excellence Centre for Biodiversity of Peninsular Thailand, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla 90112, Thailand email: anchana.p@psu.ac.th
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The network of roots and rhizomes of seagrasses plays an important role in coastal ecosystems by anchoring the substrate firmly, controlling the biogeochemistry of the sediments and providing habitat for many infaunal organisms. The purpose of this study was to compare five seagrass communities in southern Thailand in terms of species composition, belowground biomass, redox potential and the abundance of the dominant bivalve Pillucina vietnamica. The communities of Halophila ovalis, Cymodocea rotundata, Thalassia hemprichii, H. ovalis with C. rotundata and C. rotundata with T. hemprichii were studied. Belowground biomass, redox potential, bivalve abundance and bivalve size differed among communities and depths (P < 0.05). The redox potential in vegetated areas was lower than in bare sand, showing that seagrass roots trapped more organic matter than did bare sand. The lowest redox potential was in a monospecific patch of the branching root species, C. rotundata. The abundance of P. vietnamica in vegetated areas was lower than in bare sand (P < 0.05). Pillucina vietnamica was relatively large in size in the monospecific stands of C. rotundata and T. hemprichii, where relatively high root biomass and belowground biomass, respectively, were found. Our results suggest that seagrass promotes anoxic conditions belowground by trapping sediment but could obstruct the burrowing activity of lucinids, as dense populations of lucinids occurred mainly in bare sand. However, seagrass also provided shelter for lucinids, as larger bivalves were found in seagrass areas. The interactions among belowground seagrass parts, the biogeochemistry of sediments and the lucinids are highly complex and merit further study.

Keywords

seagrassrootrhizomeredox potentialLucinidaePillucina vietnamicaThailand
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 95 , Issue 8 , December 2015 , pp. 1693 - 1704
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

APHA American Public Health Association (1992) Oxidation-reduction potential measurement in clean water. In Greenberg, A.L., Clescert, L.S. and Eaton, A.D. (eds) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 18th edn.Washington, DC: APHA, pp. 260–263.Google Scholar
Bendell, B. (1999) The invertebrate community of an intertidal seagrass bed at Had Chao Mai National Park. CUSO cooperant, Marine National Park Support Centre, 30 pp.Google Scholar
Borum, J., Sand-Jensen, J., Binzer, T., Pedersen, O. and Greve, T.M. (2006) Oxygen movement in seagrasses. In Larkum, A.W.D., Orth, R.J. and Duarte, C.M. (eds) Seagrasses: biology, ecology and conservation. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 225–270.Google Scholar
DeLaune, R.D. and Reddy, K.R. (2005) Redox potential. In Hillel, D., Hatfield, J.H., Powlson, D.S., Rosenzweig, C., Scow, K.M., Singer, M.J. and Sparks, D.L. (eds) Encyclopedia of soils in the environment. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic Press, pp. 366–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delefosse, M. (2007) The effects of seagrass on the sediment biogeochemistry with emphasis on the interactions of sulphur and iron in Trang Province, Thailand. MSc thesis. University of Sothern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.Google Scholar
Duarte, C.M., Terrados, J., Agawin, N.S.R. and Fortes, M.D. (2000) An experimental test of the occurrence of competitive interactions among SE Asian seagrasses. Marine Ecology Progress Series 197, 231–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enríquez, S., Marbà, N., Duarte, C.M., van Tussenbroek, B.I. and Reyes-Zavala, G. (2001) Effects of Thalassia testudinum on sediment redox. Marine Ecology Progress Series 219, 149–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fourqurean, J.W., Duarte, C.M., Kennedy, H., Marbá, N., Holmer, M., Mateo, M.A., Apostolaki, E.T., Kendrick, G.A., Krause-Jensen, D., McGlathery, K.J. and Serrano, O. (2012) Seagrass ecosystems as a globally significant carbon stock. Nature Geoscience 1477, 1–5.Google Scholar
Holmer, M., Duarte, C.M. and Marbà, N. (2003) Sulfur cycling and seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) status in carbonate sediment. Biogeochemistry 66, 223–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmer, M., Pedersen, O. and Ikejima, K. (2006) Sulfur cycling and sulfide intrusion in mixed Southeast Asian Tropical seagrass meadows. Botanica Marina 49, 91–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heiri, O., Lotter, A.F. and Lemcke, G. (2001) Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediment: reproducibility and comparability of results. Journal of Paleolimnology 25, 101–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hori, M., Suzuki, T., Monthum, Y., Srisombat, T., Tanaka, Y., Nakaoka, M. and Mukai, H. (2009) High seagrass diversity and canopy-height increase associated fish diversity and abundance. Marine Biology 156, 1447–1458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiswara, W., Behnke, N., van Avesaath, P., Huiskes, A.H.L., Erftemeijer, P.L.A. and Bouma, T.J. (2009) Root architecture of six tropical seagrass species, growing in three contrasting habitats in Indonesia waters. Aquatic Botany 90, 235–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, E.W., Ackerman, J.D., Verduin, J. and van Keulen, M. (2006) Fluid dynamics in seagrass ecology-from molecules to ecosystem. In Larkum, A.W.D., Orth, R.J. and Duarte, C.M. (eds) Seagrasses: biology, ecology and conservation. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 193–225.Google Scholar
Kristensen, E. (2000) Organic matter diagenesis at oxic/anoxic interface in coastal marine sediment, with emphasis on the role of burrowing animals. Hydrobiologia 426, 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristensen, E., Penha-Lopes, G., Delefosse, M., Valdemarsen, T., Quintana, C.O. and Banta, G.T. (2012) What is bioturbation? The need for a precise definition for fauna in aquatic sciences. Marine Ecology Progress Series 446, 285–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuo, J. and den Hartog, C. (2006) Seagrass morphology, anatomy and ultrastructure. In Larkum, A.W.D., Orth, R.J. and Duarte, C.M. (eds) Seagrasses: biology, ecology and conservation. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 51–87.Google Scholar
Marbà, N. and Duarte, C.M. (2001) Growth and sediment space occupation by seagrass (Cymodocea nodusa) roots. Marine Ecology Progress Series 224, 291–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marbà, N., Duarte, C.M., Terrados, J., Halun, Z., Gacia, E. and Fortes, M.D. (2010) Effects of seagrass rhizospheres on sediment redox conditions in SE Asian coastal ecosystems. Marine Ecology Progress Series 33, 107–117.Google Scholar
Marbà, N., Holmer, M., Gacia, E. and Barrón, C. (2006) Seagrass beds and coastal biogeochemistry. In Larkum, A.W.D., Orth, R.J. and Duarte, C.M. (eds) Seagrasses: biology, ecology and conservation. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 135–157.Google Scholar
Orth, R.J., Heck, K.L. Jr. and van Montfrans, J. (1984) Faunal communities in seagrass beds: a review of the influence of plant structure and prey characteristics on predator-prey relationships. Estuaries 7, 339–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rattanachot, E. and Prathep, A. (2011) Temporal variation in growth and reproduction of Enhalus acoroides (L.f.) Royle in a monospecific meadow in Haad Chao Mai National Park, Trang Province, Thailand. Botanica Marina 54, 201–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, L.K. (2004) Interactions between ensymbiont-bearing infaunal bivalves and the biogeochemistry of Thalassia testudinum sediments. MSc thesis. University of Virginia, USA.Google Scholar
Reynolds, L.K., Berg, P. and Zieman, J.C. (2007) Lucinid clam influence on the biogeochemistry of the seagrass Thalassia testudinum sediments. Estuaries and Coasts 30, 482–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supanwanid, C. and Lewmanomont, K. (2003) The seagrasses of Thailand. In Green, E.P. and Short, F.T. (eds) World atlas of seagrasses. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 144–151.Google Scholar
Terrados, J., Duarte, C.M., Kamp-Nielsen, L., Agawin, N.S.R., Gacia, E., Lacap, D.C., Fortes, M.D., Borum, J., Lubanski, M. and Greve, T. (1999) Are seagrass growth and survival constrained by the reducing conditions of the sediment? Aquatic Botany 65, 175–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Heide, T. (2009) Stressors and feedbacks in temperate seagrass ecosystem. PhD thesis. Radbound University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.Google Scholar
van der Heide, T., Govers, L.L., de Fouw, J., Olff, H., van der Geest, M., van Katwijk, M.M., Piersma, T., van der Koppel, J., Silliman, B.R., Smolders, A.J.P. and van Gils, J.A. (2012) A Three-stage symbiosis forms the foundation of seagrass ecosystems. Science 336, 1432–1434.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vichkovitten, T. and Holmer, M. (2005) Dissolved and particulate matter in contrasting Zostera marina (eelgrass) sediments. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 316, 183–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zabbey, N., Hart, A.I. and Wolff, W.J. (2010) Population structure, biomass and production of the West African lucinid Keletistes rhizoecus (Bivalvia, Mollusca) in Sivibilagbara swamp at Bodo creek, Niger Delta, Nigeria. Hydrobiologia 654, 193–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar