title: Monitoring in the Western Pacific region shows evidence of seagrass decline in line with global trends.
abstract: Seagrass systems of the Western Pacific region are biodiverse habitats, providing vital services to ecosystems and humans over a vast geographic range. SeagrassNet is a worldwide monitoring program that collects data on seagrass habitats, including the ten locations across the Western Pacific reported here where change at various scales was rapidly detected. Three sites remote from human influence were stable. Seagrasses declined largely due to increased nutrient loading (4 sites) and increased sedimentation (3 sites), the two most common stressors of seagrass worldwide. Two sites experienced near-total loss from of excess sedimentation, followed by partial recovery once sedimentation was reduced. Species shifts were observed at every site with recovering sites colonized by pioneer species. Regulation of watersheds is essential if marine protected areas are to preserve seagrass meadows. Seagrasses in the Western Pacific experience stress due to human impacts despite the vastness of the ocean area and low development pressures.
authors.affiliation: SeagrassNet, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, Olympia, WA 98504, USA; University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA. Electronic address: fredtshort@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Frederick T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Short
authors.affiliation: Seagrass Group - TropWater, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coles
authors.affiliation: Marine Science Institute, CS, University of the Philippines, Quezon City 1101, Philippines.
authors.forename: Miguel D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Fortes
authors.affiliation: The Nature Conservancy, Koror 96940, Palau.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Victor
authors.affiliation: Department of Fisheries, Tofol, Kosrae 96944, Federated States of Micronesia.
authors.forename: Maxwell
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salik
authors.affiliation: Sabah Parks, 88100 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Irwan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Isnain
authors.affiliation: Palau International Coral Reef Center, Koror 96940, Palau.
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Andrew
authors.affiliation: Komodo National Park, Labuan Bajo, Flores, NTT 86554, Indonesia.
authors.forename: Aganto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seno
mesh_terms: D035961:Alismatales / Q000502:physiology*; D044822:Biodiversity; D057231:Climate Change; D017753:Ecosystem
keywords: Decline; Monitoring; Nutrients; Seagrass; Sedimentation; Western Pacific