TeamSeagrass at Reef Celebrations 9 Aug (Sat)

TeamSeagrass will be part of the Celebrations! Shufen will be talking about our favourite "Green, Mean, Photosynthesizing Machines" and there'll be an exhibit about our fascinating seagrasses!

The wild and wacky team will also be there to share about our beloved meadows. So do come and join us for the Celebrations!

9 Aug (Sat): Reef Celebrations!

The marine community celebrates our nation’s priceless reefs this National Day with the Singapore launch of International Year of the Reef!

Everyone is invited!

With a slew of activities for all, come find out about Singapore's living shores and how you can make a difference for them.

A shore fun day for the entire family! Kids' games and activities so even the youngest ones (aged 4-8 years) can learn about our marine life and what we can do to help.

Be a Star! Adopt a unique Singapore star and learn more about Cyrene Reef, a major Knobbly Nursery.

Our reefs revealed! As volunteers share about our reefs and shores and the work they have been doing. A rare opportunity to meet ALL major marine groups active on our shores and find out how you too can make a difference.

Exciting exhibits! See Singapore’s living shores without getting your feet wet. Find out about the latest marine projects, and threats to and work done for our shores. Come see rarely seen specimens, including a baby dugong by the Toddycats!

Special talks throughout the day! Come find out if there are any reefs left in Singapore and about diving Singapore's wild reefs at Pulau Hantu. Learn more about our Knobbly sea stars; how is Chek Jawa doing after the mass deaths in 2007?; and about our wild and wacky seagrass meadows. Film clips about our amazing marine life will also be shown throughout the day.

More details on the Singapore Celebrates our Reefs blog

Time: 10am-5pm
Venue: Function Hall, Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens (above Taman Serasi foodcourt), more about getting there.
Website: http://iyor08singapore.blogspot.com/
Contact: iyor08singapore@gmail.com

Valuable seagrass faces global warming threat

Reuters 24 Jul 08;

GENEVA (Reuters) - Seagrass meadows, which are vital for the survival of much marine life and a source of household materials in Europe and Africa, face a mounting threat from global warming, a report said on Friday.

The report, from the Swiss-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said the submerged meadows -- many around the Mediterranean -- could be saved through concerted action by governments and scientists.

"Seagrass habitats are already declining due to increasing water temperatures, algae (seaweed) growth and light reduction, which are all effects of global change," said IUCN specialist Mats Bjork, one of the authors of the report.

The report said the grass -- flowering plants found in shallow waters around the globe -- provides food and shelter for prawn and fish populations and is used traditionally as mattress filling, roof covering and for medicines.

If much of it were to disappear, a wide range of species -- including dugongs, sea turtles, sea urchins and seabirds who feed on it -- would also come under increased threat, according to the report.

The report said some of the healthiest seagrass areas known to exist today were off the North African coast of Libya and Tunisia in areas where there had been little industrial or tourism development.

Carl Gustaf Lundin, head of IUCN's Global Marine Program, said the meadows could be saved by making seagrass more resilient to climbing temperatures through mixing genetically more diverse populations.

The report, issued at a conference in Barcelona, said the introduction of protected areas and linking the underwater meadows to nearby mangrove plantations or coral reefs would also give a huge boost to their chances of survival.

Lundin said it was also vital to extend research into how seagrass can be protected -- a effort already promoted by IUCN that would require governments and scientific institutions to devote resources and time.

Sentosa (19 Jul 08)

6am and in the glitter of Jurong lights on the horizon and a full moon in the sky, an intrepid team was out on Sentosa to check out the seagrasses there.It's a bit of a challenge to monitor in the dark.
But in torchlight it works out fine.

This shore is narrow but has lots of Tape seagrasses (Enhalus acoroides) and Spoon seagrasses (Halophila ovalis).
So we don't have to lay out the tape. Instead, we do the random sampling method. Which is quite easy to do!
With some tips from the 'older' team members, even first timers pick up quickly. Tape seagrasses are long and to measure them, sometimes we have to double up the ruler.Here's a look at some of the Tape seagrasses there, with the team figuring them out.But the seagrasses today are rather sparse (photo above courtesy of Adeline).
This is the growths we saw in Aug last year.

Both Tape and Spoon seagrasses were rather thin today. We're not sure why. Is it seasonal? Or are there other causes?

This is why monitoring is important. As we gather data, over time, we will better understand our seagrass meadows.

We had a big team out today so Siti and Shufen set up the rest of the team to do a survey of coverage on the shore. They were super efficient and finished very quickly.

All too soon, the monitoring is done and we have a quick look around at the Sentosa shore before the tide comes in. We also hiked to the end of the shore to have a look at the pitcher plants, and Shufen shared about the Sea teak (Podocarpus) that lined the natural cliffs.

Thank you to the team who came today: Adeline, Anuj, Hannah, Kenerf, Yok Zuan, Sam, Shin Yee, Shin Yin, Yi Xin, Ayesha, Leon, Zhigang, Eva, Siti, Shufen, Wei Ling and Kevin

More photos of MORE finds on Adeline's blog and on the wildfilms blog.

Seagrassers at Labrador

The young ladies are back on Labrador to check out the seagrasses there.
Among their interesting finds was a velcro crab!Visit their Labrador blog for more about their efforts!

Eelgrass study may help salmon, crab populations

Here's an article that shows that if we lose seagrasses, it's really hard to get them back. And studying them is important to understand more about them.

Eelgrass study may help salmon, crab populations
By Cassandra Profita, The Daily Astorian 12 Jul 08
on the world website

ASTORIA — Scientists don’t know a lot about why eelgrass grows in certain underwater environments and not others.

They do know the aquatic plants provide valuable shelter for juvenile salmon and Dungeness crab and attract a buffet of critters for them to eat.

To study the possibility of growing more eelgrass in the Columbia River estuary, researchers with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed models detailing the current locations of eelgrass beds and the places where light, salinity and current conditions would support eelgrass growth.

“The model tells us where eelgrass could potentially grow based on limited information,” said Amy Borde, a marine biologist with the national lab. “There really hasn’t been a lot of research done on eelgrass in the estuary. Where is it growing and where isn’t it growing and why?”

To test the model, divers working with the lab suited up recently and dove to harvest healthy eelgrass beds and sow new beds in areas where eelgrass isn’t growing.

The new beds will be monitored over the next 12 months to see if they take root and attract juvenile crab.

Curtis Roegner, a marine biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hammond Research Lab, will be testing to see if crab are using the new eelgrass beds over the next year.

“The hypothesis is we’ll find higher abundance of crab around eelgrass than on bare sediment,” he said.

He’ll put out traps in the new eelgrass beds, as well as in older, more established beds and non-eelgrass habitat and take stock of the number and size of the crab he catches.

Bonneville Power Authority provided $250,000 to allow researchers to model potential eelgrass turf in Puget Sound and the Columbia River estuary, plant new beds and study the new plantings.

A lack of documentation makes it hard to know the historic range of eelgrass in the estuary.

“Typically in estuaries around the world, there was more than there is now,” Borde said.

In other parts of the world, eelgrass beds have been declining because of development and poor water quality.

Some waterfront development in Puget Sound has been curbed to protect eelgrass under Washing-ton’s “no net loss” policy for the plant.

Eelgrass is sensitive to light, salinity and current, and because suspended sediment clouds thes Columbia River, it can’t live very deep in the estuary. Dredging stirs up and eliminates some potential eelgrass grounds, and structures such as docks can block the light eelgrass needs to grow.

Roegner said the higher, channelized flow of the Columbia River is not conducive to its growth.

“We see it in more protected areas,” said Roegner. “Too much current works it out of the sediment.”

Borde said eelgrass could also be limited by its ability to spread seeds into areas where they can take root and grow.

So far, the research she’s done with Ron Thom, a staff scientist with the national laboratory, has shown a few of the eelgrass plants in the estuary are producing seeds.

“There are a lot of unknowns,” Borde said. “If we put the plants in and they do well, it will show the plants can live here, and we can do more and expand the area.”

The hydrology of the Columbia has changed dramatically since dams were installed upriver, and the jetties at the mouth have changed the river’s topography.

Micah Russell, executive director of the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce, said those changes actually make the estuary a more inviting place for eelgrass to grow.

“We suspect that the conditions for eelgrass have improved since installation of the dams because the salt wedge is able to intrude farther into the estuary during the summer than would normally occur,” he said. “Even though we don’t see it everywhere now, the chemistry and water quality issues that make life suitable for eelgrass are better now.”

Thom said taking eelgrass from the estuary for replanting will ensure the new populations are adapted for the volatility of the Columbia River.

Even though it can’t make up for the loss of marsh and swamp habitat in the estuary, Borde said, expanding the eelgrass beds should still help fragile populations of out-migrating juvenile salmon.

“This would help offset some of those losses even if it’s not exactly the same habitat. It provides sheltered habitat and eating areas,” she said. “The ultimate goal is flourishing habitat.

Studying seagrasses in the U.S.

Scientists diving for answers
Transplanting eelgrass may help crab, salmon
Cassandra Profita, The Daily Astorian 4 Jul 08;

Scientists don't know a lot about why eelgrass grows in certain underwater environments and not others.

They do know the aquatic plants provide valuable shelter for juvenile salmon and Dungeness crab and attract a buffet of critters for them to eat.

To study the possibility of growing more eelgrass in the Columbia River estuary, researchers with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed models detailing the current locations of eelgrass beds and the places where light, salinity and current conditions would support eelgrass growth.

"The model tells us where eelgrass could potentially grow based on limited information," said Amy Borde, a marine biologist with the national lab. "There really hasn't been a lot of research done on eelgrass in the estuary. Where is it growing and where isn't it growing and why?"

To test the model, divers working with the lab suited up last week and dove down to the bottom of Youngs Bay, Baker Bay, near Ilwaco, Wash., Trestle Bay, near Hammond, and the waters around Desdemona Sands to harvest healthy eelgrass beds and sow new beds in areas where eelgrass isn't growing.

The harvested shoots were bundled in groups of four in the Hammond Boat Basin, loaded 120 at a time onto metal plates then replanted underwater.

The new beds will be monitored over the next 12 months to see if they take root and attract juvenile crab.

Curtis Roegner, a marine biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Hammond Research Lab, will be testing to see if crab are using the new eelgrass beds over the next year.

"The hypothesis is we'll find higher abundance of crab around eelgrass than on bare sediment," he said.

He'll put out traps in the new eelgrass beds, as well as in older, more established beds and non-eelgrass habitat and take stock of the number and size of the crab he catches.

Money for research

Bonneville Power Authority provided $250,000 to allow researchers to model potential eelgrass turf in Puget Sound and the Columbia River estuary, plant new beds and study the new plantings.

A lack of documentation makes it hard to know the historic range of eelgrass in the estuary.

"Typically in estuaries around the world, there was more than there is now," Borde said.

In other parts of the world, eelgrass beds have been declining because of development and poor water quality.

Some waterfront development in Puget Sound has been curbed to protect eelgrass under Washington's "no net loss" policy for the plant.

Eelgrass is sensitive to light, salinity and current, and because suspended sediment clouds Columbia River water, it can't live very deep in the estuary. Dredging stirs up and eliminates some potential eelgrass grounds, and structures such as docks can block the light eelgrass needs to grow.

Roegner said the higher, channelized flow of the Columbia River is not conducive to eelgrass growth.

"We see it in more protected areas," said Roegner. "Too much current works it out of the sediment."

Borde said eelgrass could also be limited by recruitment, or the ability to spread seeds into areas where they can take root and grow.

So far, the research she's done with Ron Thom, a staff scientist with the national laboratory, has shown a few of the eelgrass plants in the estuary are producing seeds.

"We haven't seen a single flowering shoot in all of our plantings," Borde said. "There are a lot of unknowns. ... If we put the plants in and they do well, it will show the plants can live here, and we can do more and expand the area."

Changing laboratory

The hydrology of the Columbia has changed dramatically since dams were installed upriver, and the jetties at the mouth have changed the river's topography.

Micah Russell, executive director of the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce, said those changes actually make the estuary a more inviting place for eelgrass to grow.

"We suspect that the conditions for eelgrass have improved since installation of the dams because the salt wedge is able to intrude farther into the estuary during the summer than would normally occur," he said. "Even though we don't see it everywhere now, the chemistry and water quality issues that make life suitable for eelgrass are better now."

Thom said taking eelgrass from the estuary for replanting will ensure the new populations are adapted for the volatility of the Columbia River.

Even though it can't make up for the loss of marsh and swamp habitat in the estuary, Borde said, expanding the eelgrass beds should still help fragile populations of out-migrating juvenile salmon.

"This would help offset some of those losses even if it's not exactly the same habitat. It provides sheltered habitat and eating areas," she said. "The ultimate goal is flourishing habitat."