Abstract
Seagrass meadows support key ecosystem services, via provision of food directly for herbivores, and indirectly to their predators. The importance of herbivores in seagrass meadows has been well-documented, but the links between food webs and ecosystem services in seagrass meadows have not previously been made explicit. Herbivores interact with ecosystem services – including carbon sequestration, cultural values, and coastal protection. Interactions can be positive or negative and depend on a range of factors including the herbivore identity and the grazing type and intensity. There can be unintended consequences from management actions based on a poor understanding of trade-offs that occur with complex seagrass-herbivore interactions. Tropical seagrass meadows support a diversity of grazers spanning the meso-, macro-, and megaherbivore scales. We present a conceptual model to describe how multiple ecosystem services are influenced by herbivore pressure in tropical seagrass meadows. Our model suggests that a balanced ecosystem, incorporating both seagrass and herbivore diversity, is likely to sustain the broadest range of ecosystem services. Our framework suggests the pathway to achieve desired ecosystem services outcomes requires knowledge on four key areas: (1) how size classes of herbivores interact to structure seagrass; (2) desired community and management values; (3) seagrass responses to top–down and bottom–up controls; (4) the pathway from intermediate to final ecosystem services and human benefits. We suggest research should be directed to these areas. Herbivory is a major structuring influence in tropical seagrass systems and needs to be considered for effective management of these critical habitats and their services.
Highlights
Herbivores can dramatically influence primary production through top–down regulation in global ecosystems, including seagrass meadows
Seagrasses are well-adapted to cope with grazing pressure (Heck and Valentine, 2006); plant–herbivore interactions can modify characteristics such as biomass, productivity, and species diversity
We review the current literature and identify the plant–herbivore interactions that structure tropical seagrass meadows
Summary
Herbivores can dramatically influence primary production through top–down regulation in global ecosystems, including seagrass meadows. Herbivory has the potential to modify these seagrass ecosystem services by reducing biomass, changing productivity, or altering species assemblages within meadows.
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