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A dynamic view of seagrass meadows in the wake of successful green turtle conservation

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 5, pages 553–555 (2021)Cite this article

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Concerted conservation efforts have led to a remarkable recovery of multiple green turtle (Chelonia mydas) populations worldwide. The voracious feeding of these returning populations is radically transforming tropical seagrass habitats in ways that prompt a re-think of the reference state and management plans for seagrass meadows.

What was ‘pristine’ in the coastal oceans? An idealized concept of the pristine pervades ecological and conservation thinking, and is influenced by a forest-centred view of nature1. The (mis)conception of forests as a ‘pristine’ state and savannahs as ‘degraded’ has a marine equivalent in seagrass meadows. Meadows composed of large, slow-growing climax seagrass species are currently considered healthy, while meadows with fast-growing pioneer seagrass species are considered disturbed or in decline. This view inadvertently neglects the role that megaherbivore grazing played in the past1 and reflects a much more recent functioning of seagrass meadows, long after their principal megaherbivores (turtles and sirenians) became ecologically extinct2. Here we document the dynamic stages meadows undergo as a result of megaherbivore−seagrass interactions and propose them as a baseline against which to evaluate effective management, including prevention of meadow collapse.

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Fig. 1: Green turtle grazing impact on seagrass seascapes.

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Acknowledgements

M.J.A.C. was funded by NWO-Veni grant 181002. R.A. was funded by Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. T.A. was supported by the project UMBRAL CTM2017-86695-C3-3- R. J.F.P. was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 795315.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Marjolijn J. A. Christianen, Marieke M. van Katwijk.

  2. These authors jointly supervised this work: Rohan Arthur, Teresa Alcoverro.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wageningen University & Research, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Marjolijn J. A. Christianen

  2. Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

    Marieke M. van Katwijk

  3. Reef Systems Unit, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, Mexico

    Brigitta I. van Tussenbroek

  4. Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi F. Pagès

  5. Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Blanes, Spain

    Jordi F. Pagès, Rohan Arthur & Teresa Alcoverro

  6. Centre d’Etude et de Découverte des Tortues Marines, Saint Leu, La Réunion, France

    Katia Ballorain

  7. Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore, India

    Nachiket Kelkar

  8. Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, India

    Rohan Arthur & Teresa Alcoverro

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  1. Marjolijn J. A. Christianen
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Contributions

M.J.A.C., M.M.v.K., B.I.v.T., R.A. and T.A. conceptualized, visualized and wrote the Comment (original draft, review and editing). J.F.P., K.B. and N.K. contributed to writing (review and editing).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marjolijn J. A. Christianen.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks Rod Connolly and Gema Hernan for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Christianen, M.J.A., van Katwijk, M.M., van Tussenbroek, B.I. et al. A dynamic view of seagrass meadows in the wake of successful green turtle conservation. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 553–555 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01433-z

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