Abstract
Seagrasses are commonly referred to as “ecosystem engineers” due to their ability to modify their environments to create unique ecosystems believed to be the third-most valuable in the world. While engineering nursery habitats for small invertebrates, fish, and microalgae such as diatoms, they also aid in water filtration and are capable of storing 11% of the ocean’s organic carbon each year. Seagrasses mainly grow in shallow salty waters within sandy sediments, but over time can drastically alter the sediment by entrapping silt particles, organic matter and decaying organisms that collect on the seafloor to form an organic-rich mud that incorporates itself with the underlying sand. Anaerobic microbes break down the buried organic matter to produce biogas and more stable organic compounds, which can drastically affect sediment geoacoustic properties. Sediment cores were collected within a Thalassia testudinum meadow in the Lower Laguna Madre, TX, and analyzed in 2-cm depth increments for grain size, density, porosity, sound speed, and attenuation from 100 kHz to 300 kHz, and organic carbon content. Results are compared with those from a seagrass-free sediment core to investigate how these valuable “ecosystem engineers” can alter geoacoustical properties of the seabed. [Work supported by ONR and ARL:UT IR&D.]
Published Version
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