Seagrass ecology at the turn of the millennium: challenges for the new century

A review of the literature on seagrass ecology produced over the past decad e (1989-1997) showed a sustained increase in the scientific production in i nternational journals, with a doubling of the annual publication rate every four years. This production is highly concentrated in Aquatic Botany and t hree other journals (>50% of papers), involving contributors from 33 countr ies. Research efforts are growing rapidly in W. Europe, the Mediterranean S ea, the Caribbean Sea, and Australia. Studies on seagrass ecology also incr ease in NW America and SE Asia. Development of research is particularly str ong in themes such as disturbance of seagrass meadows, and their growth, bi ogeochemistry and population dynamics. Yet, seagrass ecology is a rather im balanced science, with half of the production produced by scientists from o nly two countries, examining only 10% of the seagrass flora from two biogeo graphic areas. Seagrass ecology is dominated by descriptive research (>60% of papers), with a paucity of efforts to synthesize results and derive gene ral relationships. These characteristics result in a present lack of predic tive ability, and scientific basis for the management of seagrass ecosystem s. Coordination of research efforts in seagrass ecology has been limited, s uch that great uncertainty arises when scaling up the knowledge produced lo cally to assess seagrass resources at regional and global scales, Seagrass ecology must progress from the present descriptive stage to synthesis, eith er through large-scale comparative analyses or: the formulation of general models, yielding the power to predict the time course of seagrass decline a nd recovery and the role of seagrass meadows in the ecosystem. The developm ent of a cooperative framework should contribute to expanding the scale of the research, develop the capacity to conduct new relevant research, establ ish a global network monitoring seagrass resources, and incorporate seagras s ecosystems into international programs examining the health and functioni ng of the oceans. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.