PNNL

Abstract

The relish of scientists for, and funding of research on, seagrasses probably stems from two sources: seagrasses are a defined taxonomic unit often growing in monotypic stands, making academic study tractable; and, seagrasses are increasingly recognized globally as important components of shallow water systems, and potential key indicators of ecosystem health. The 26 chapters covering ~700 pages provide a long overdue treatment of the state of the science on seagrasses. This book is an honest, thorough and heroic attempt to compile a mass of knowledge by a herd of 80 researcher “cats” representing 15 countries. The chapters “…provide the necessary background on what brought each topic where it is today and indicate where future research needs to go to advance the field to the next level.” Seagrass science is in its infancy, but, as demonstrated, is advancing rapidly. Volumes with recent topical treatments of seagrasses include World Atlas of Seagrasses (Green and Short 2003), Seagrass Ecology (Hemminga and Duarte 2000), and Global Seagrass Research Methods (Short and Coles 2001) are useful compliments to this book.