The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles
The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles
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DOI：
10.1098/rsos.150596
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发表时间：
2016-01-01
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Unsworth, Richard K. F.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Jones, Benjamin L.;Unsworth, Richard K. F.
海草生态系统面临着水质下降、沿海开发和土地利用不当的广泛威胁。近几十年来，它们的分布迅速减少，在不列颠群岛，这种损失被认为是广泛的。鉴于人们越来越了解这些生态系统如何支持渔业生产、了解其潜在的快速损失以及恢复它们的难度，我们必须了解它们所面临的风险，以便制定相应的管理行动。因此，了解其环境状况和条件对于其长期管理至关重要。据我们所知，这项研究首次对不列颠群岛周围的海草草甸的环境健康进行了检查。这项研究使用了生物指示剂方法，包括收集海草密度和形态的数据以及叶子生物化学分析。据我们所知，我们的研究提供了第一个强有力的定量证据，表明与全球平均水平相比，不列颠群岛的海草草甸大多状况较差，组织氮水平比全球值高出 75%。如此糟糕的状况使他们的长期恢复能力受到质疑。元素营养浓度和形态变化表明存在过量的氮和可能的低光照条件，使许多采样的草地处于危险状态，尽管远离人类种群的其他草地被认为是健康的。尽管一些地点的环境健康状况良好，但所有地点都被认为面临人为影响的风险，特别是水质差和划船干扰。这项研究的结果警告我们需要在水质和干扰方面采取行动，以防止不列颠群岛这些系统的进一步损失和退化。
Seagrass ecosystems face widespread threat from reduced water quality, coastal development and poor land use. In recent decades, their distribution has declined rapidly, and in the British Isles, this loss is thought to have been extensive. Given increasing knowledge of how these ecosystems support fisheries production, the understanding of their potential rapid loss, and the difficulty in restoring them, it is vital we develop an understanding of the risks they are under, so that management actions can be developed accordingly. Developing an understanding of their environmental status and condition is therefore critical to their long-term management. This study provided, to our knowledge, the first examination of the environmental health of seagrass meadows around the British Isles. This study used a bioindicator approach and involved collecting data on seagrass density and morphology alongside analysis of leaf biochemistry. Our study provides, to the best of our knowledge, the first strong quantitative evidence that seagrass meadows of the British Isles are mostly in poor condition in comparison with global averages, with tissue nitrogen levels 75% higher than global values. Such poor status places their long-term resilience in doubt. Elemental nutrient concentrations and morphological change suggest conditions of excess nitrogen and probable low light, placing many of the meadows sampled in a perilous state, although others, situated away from human populations were perceived to be healthy. Although some sites were of a high environmental health, all sites were considered at risk from anthropogenic impacts, particularly poor water quality and boating-based disturbances. The findings of this study provide a warning of the need to take action, with respect to water quality and disturbance, to prevent the further loss and degradation of these systems across the British Isles.