Patterns of seagrass and sediment nutrient distribution suggest anthropogenic enrichment in Laamu Atoll, Republic of Maldives

Sampling of seagrass cover and sediment nutrients was undertaken in lagoona l habitats of Laamu Atoll (Republic of Maldives) adjacent to three traditio nal fishing villages (fishing the predominant economic activity for more th an 30 yr), three other villages (not traditional landing sites), and four u ninhabited islands to determine if chronic input of organic fishing waste f rom the traditional fishing villages could explain spatial distribution of seagrass cover, Results indicated significantly greater cover of seagrass a t the traditional fishing village sites than the other two site groups. Ana lysis of dried sediments showed sediments at traditional fishing village si tes were significantly enriched with phosphorus, though no significant diff erence in nitrogen was found between groups of sites, These results, togeth er with studies showing that sediment nutrient pools can limit seagrass bed development, suggest that anthropogenic enrichment of lagoonal sediments b y fishing waste over generational time scales may have caused substantial p roliferation of seagrass beds. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re served.