The Food within Seagrass Beds and their Relationships to Adjacent Systems
Zieman J. 1981. The Food within Seagrass Beds and their Relationships to Adjacent Systems. FWS/OBS-80/59. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Seagrass meadows have been shown to be extremely productive and of great value to near shore marine regions. The earliest studies on seagrass ecosystems indicated that the dominant pathway of energy utilization was through the detrital food web. Recent research confirms that this is indeed the primary pathway for utilization of seagrass carbon, but that other pathways, notably direct herbivory and export of material from grassbeds for remote utilization, are often significant also. Energy is also exported from seagrass beds via utilization- by organisms, such as grunts and snappers that reside on coral reefs, but feed in grassbeds.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Zieman, Joseph
- Date of Issue
- 1981-02
- Publisher
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Units
- SFCN
- Keywords
- Ecosystem, Fauna, Food Chain, Herbivory, vegitation