Linking clonal growth patterns and ecophysiology allows the prediction of meadow-scale dynamics of seagrass beds

J.E. Vermaat

    Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    Seagrasses are a group of 12 genera of monocotyledonous plants in four families that have successfully colonised shallow coastal seas, probably since the Cretaceous. Variations in light availability and water movement are prime environmental factors for the growth of these marine angiosperms. An overall similarity in growth form and modular clonal architecture allows the generalisation that small species have short-lived shoots with rapidly elongating rhizome axes, whilst the larger species have longer-lived shoots that do not expand rapidly with rhizomes. Annual rhizome elongation rates range between 2 cm and 4 m among species. This range in expansion capacity is correlated with rhizome diameter in an allometric fashion (y=191x
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)137-155
    JournalPerspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics
    Volume11
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2009

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