Fig 1.
Seagrass meadow exposed during low tide.
Patchy seagrass meadow dominated by Thalassodendron ciliatum during low tide in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Photo credit: Lina Mtwana Nordlund.
Fig 2.
Ecosystem services (ES) provided by seagrass—expert eliciting.
Colours represent consensus view of experts’ in each bioregional group. Red represents service not present; grey unknown and green service present. A sum of present, unknown, not present services scores can be seen in the table to the far right per ES and at the bottom for each genus in every bioregion. Bioregions according to Short et al., 2007 [2]:I = Temperate North Atlantic, II = Tropical Atlantic, III = Mediterranean, IV = Temperate North Pacific, V = Tropical Indo-Pacific, VI = Temperate Southern Oceans. At the far left # indicates a number that corresponds to the same ecosystem service in Table 1 facilitate comparisons, and has no prioritization.
Table 1.
Literature review of seagrass ecosystem services.
The table presents a comprehensive list of ecosystem services provided by seagrass along with a selection of available research for services, each reference is followed by a parenthesis indicating the bioregion where the research was conducted. The bioregions are I = Temperate North Atlantic, II = Tropical Atlantic, III = Mediterranean, IV = Temperate North Pacific, V = Tropical Indo-Pacific, VI = Temperate Southern Oceans (Bioregions according to Short et al. 2007 [2]), R = Review of multiple bioregions. This selection of references deliberately includes only some of the references available per ecosystem service and bioregion. However, if research on this ecosystem service is common several references are included. # indicates a number that corresponds to the same ecosystem service in Figs 2 and 5. References in bold are disparities between the expert opinions and literature review, i.e. listed as unknown in the expert opinion study for a specific bioregion (it does not consider genera) or not listed as an ecosystem service in Fig 2.
Fig 3.
Perceived provision of seagrass ecosystem services.
Global A) mean frequency, B) mean frequency per genus, of perceived provision of different ecosystem services of seagrasses. The higher mean the more frequently that service is provided. Data are across bioregion and genera means ± SE. Horizontal bars represent homogenous subsets (Tukey test).
Fig 4.
Perceived provision of seagrass ecosystem services among bioregions.
A) mean frequency, B) mean frequency per genus, of perceived provision of different ecosystem services of seagrasses. Large values of mean frequency of ES show that more services are provided. Data are across service and genera means ± SE. Bars with different letters (a and b) are significantly different (Tukey test).
Fig 5.
Multivariate relationship among genera and perceived seagrass ecosystem services.
The following numbers correspond to the numbers in Fig 2 and Table 1. Ecosystem service: 1 = Compost fertilizer; 2 = Fisheries habitat; 3 = Food (for humans); 4 = Food from seagrass associated species; 5 = Invertebrate habitat; 6 = Nursery; 7 = Pharmaceuticals; 8 = Raw materials; 9 = Vertebrate habitat incl birds; 10 = Carbon sequestration; 11 = Coastal protection; 12 = Geomorphology as a result of sediment accretion; 13 = Sediment accretion; 14 = Sediment stabilization; 15 = Animal food; 16 = Mariculture (as a habitat/substrate); 17 = Seagrasses as food for animals; 18 = Water purification; 19 = Bequest value; 20 = Cultural artefacts; 21 = Education; 22 = Recreation; 23 = Research; 24 = Spiritual value; 25 = Tourism.
Fig 6.
Relationship between mean perceived frequency of ecosystem service and seagrass genera shoot-specific leaf area.
Relationship between mean perceived frequency of provision of ecosystem services by different seagrass genera and mean genus shoot-specific leaf area (size). Note the log10 scale (abscissa).