Seagrass Watch Magazine issue 43 (April 2011)

Natural disasters can devastate seagrasses!

In another great issue by Seagrass-Watch, find out more about how flooding and cyclones affect seagrass meadows.


In "Surviving the flood: How long can seagrass 'hold it's breath'?" Len McKenzie and Richard Unsworth explain some of the impacts of flooding on seagrasses. From flushing down vast plumes of pollution and debris down rivers, to drastically changing the salinity levels, floods can serious affect shores. As we discovered in 2007 when there were mass deaths at Chek Jawa following heavy rains.

Which seagrass species are affected most? How fast does recovery occur? What does climate change mean for our seagrasses? Find out more in this very informative article.

There's also another article "Can we learn from severe climate events?" which explores the lessons learnt from the severe tropical cyclone Yasi that hit the Queensland coast in Feb 2011.

The seagrasses of Southeast Asia are also featured in a report of the World Seagrass Conference and 9th International Seagrass Biology Workshop in Nov 2010. Also featured, field excursions during the Workshop giving a glimpse of some Thai seagrass meadows and sharing about some of the threats they face.

There's also an article about "Seagrass as fertiliser" which shares about this issue in India. Plus lots of reports of monitoring on other seagrass meadows around the world with gorgeous photos.

I always look forward to the "Creature Feature" at the end of the magazine. In this issue more about those mysterious blobs that we see growing on our seagrasses. According to the article, their presence helps provide important indications of pollution and environmental imbalance. More about Singapore's ascidians.

Download the full magazine from the Seagrass-Watch website to read all these great articles!