Posidonia oceanica (Linnaeus) Delile

Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile is a seagrass species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea that forms dense and extensive underwater meadows with leaves that can attain 1 metre in height. These meadows provide important ecological functions and services and support a highly diverse community, including species of economic interest.

Since the 1970´s, a worldwide decline of seagrass distribution and abundance has been detected and causes are mainly attributed to the negative influence of anthropogenic impacts (Orth et al., 2006). P. oceanica is very sensitive to specific impacts such as bottom trawling (Sánchez and Ramos, 1996), anchoring (Francour et al., 1999), coastal constructions (Ruiz and Romero, 2003), chemical wastes (Pergent-Martini and Pergent, 1995), fish farm effluents (Delgado et al., 1999; Ruiz et al., 2001; Pergent-Martini et al., 2006) desalination plants (Gacia et al in press), geodynamic alterations (Badalamenti et al., 2006, biological invasions (Villèle and Verlaque, 1995) and many others. The effect of these impacts, alone or combined; cause either a loss of vegetated areas, a reduction in seagrass abundance (cover and/or shoot density) or a deterioration of plant health.

P. oceanica beds are identified as a priority habitat for conservation under the European Union’s Habitats Directive (Dir 92/43/CEE). Conservation management is mainly focused on protection from physical damage through the installation of artificial reefs and seagrass-friendly moorings for boats, which reduce the erosive pressure of otter-trawling and free anchoring in shallow meadows. The control of invasive species has also been performed recurrently in some P. oceanica beds.

Regressed meadows are prone to invasion by one or more of the potential substitutes for P. oceanica (Bianchi and Peirano, 1995; Montefalcone et al., 2006) such as the other common Mediterranean seagrass Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Ascherson, the native Mediterranean green alga Caulerpa prolifera (Forsskal) Lamouroux and the two alien green algae Caulerpa taxifolia (Vahl) C. Agardh and Caulerpa racemosa (Forskal) J. Agardh.

There is a need to further develop regulations for activities that have a negative impact on P. oceanica beds (e.g. pollutants level limits and allowed minimum distances of impact sources to meadows) and to implement them through a vigilance system that is coordinated with the existing seagrass monitoring networks.

Once the cause of habitat perturbation is eliminated, the slow growth of P. oceanica beds means that recovery can take centuries. Measures like remediation of seagrass sediments enriched with organic matter, or transplanting of P. oceanica, are at an experimental stage.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Morphology

3. Propagation

4. Ecological Benefits

5. Species that Depend on the Posidonia oceanica Habitat - Key Fauna:

• Sea urchins
• Fish
• Molluscs

6. Threats:

• Sedimentation/Erosion Balance
• Eutrophication
• Direct Erosion by Boat-trawling and Boat Anchoring
• Expansion of Invasive Algal Species
• Salinity Increase in the Vicinity of Water Desalination Facilities
• Fish Farm Activity
• Climate Change

7. Trends

8. Conservation Measures

9. Restoration Initiatives:

• Dredging Recovery
• Transplantation of Posidonia oceanica
• Transplantation of Seedlings
• Success of Posidonia Oceanica Transplantation

10. See Also

Introduction

Posidoniaceae is one of the 5 families of seagrasses, descendants of terrestrial plants that re-colonised the ocean between 100 and 65 million years ago. Seagrasses are monocotyledons that are not true grasses (family Poaceae) but are closely related to the lily family, Magnolyophyta.

The Posidonia genus has 9 species: P. angustifolia, P. australis, P. sinuosa, P. coriacea, P. denhartogii, P. kirkmanii, P. ostenfeldii, P. robertsonae and P. oceanica. Whilst the other species are found around southern Australia, P. oceanica is unique to the Mediterranean Sea and grows within a temperature range of 10ºC to about 30ºC. Temperature is therefore considered the central parameter controlling the geographical distribution of this species. P. oceanica beds cover between 25,000 and 50,000 km2 of the coastal areas of the Mediterranean, corresponding to 25% of the sea bottom at depths between 0 and 40 m.

P. oceanica is a marine flowering plant (angiosperm) with a millenary life span, a need for light and clear water, and a very slow growth (a few centimetres per year) and poor reproduction rate. P. oceanica propagates slowly, through the elongation of horizontally growing rhizomes, which eventually forms tightly knit mattes of rhizomes that hold the sandy seabed in place. Thus the meadow rises, over decades, producing reefs up to 3 m high that can be thousands of years old. These meadows accumulate sediment and mediate wave motion, minimising the effect of wave action and therefore helping to stabilise the coastline. This process also reduces the amount of sediment suspended in the water, helping to maintain the clear water conditions P. oceanica requires for growth.

Morphology

Like other angiosperms P. oceanica has roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits. At the base of each plant is a rhizome, which is actually a modification of the stem. The rhizomes of P. oceanica can easily be distinguished from those of the other three European seagrass species by the dense, hairy remains of old, degrading leaf sheaths found around the rhizomes. These remains can also be found as conspicuous balls of fibres washed onto the beaches, known as egagropili.

Vertical rhizomes are attached to horizontal rhizomes that branch and expand by terminal apices. Rhizome internodes are short (0.5 to 2 mm) reflecting the slow horizontal growth of the plant, and the thickness of the rhizomes vary between 5 and 10 mm. The roots are 3-4 mm thick, up to 40 cm long and richly branched, attaching the plant to the substratum and allowing the absorption of nutrients from the sediment. Nutrients are taken up from the sediments by the roots and transported to the meristems and leaves for growth. Leaves themselves can also absorb nutrients, and are the main structures for absorbing carbon dioxide CO2 from the water column. Leaf life span in P. oceanica is almost a year with shoots living for decades.

P. oceanica has leaf bundles consisting of 5 to 10 leaves attached to a vertical rhizome. The leaves are broad (5 to 12 mm) and the length usually varies from 20 to 40 cm in length, but may be up to 1 m. A section of the petiole of a leaf shows a true network of lacunae throughout the plant from the tip of the leaf to the end of the roots, called the aerarium, and all the tissues are steeped in gas. This is the main difference between the marine phanerogams and other marine vegetation, which never left the sea.

The rate of formation of seagrass leaves, rhizomes and roots depends on the activity of meristems, where active cell division takes place. The horizontal growth and vertical extension of P. oceanica rhizomes is at a rate of only a few centimetres per year, producing, on average, a branch every 30 years. Shoots produce new leaves every 50 days on average.

The vascular and lacunal systems of the roots and rhizomes facilitate the transport and exchange of fluids and gasses respectively. A proportion of the oxygen O2 that is produced in the leaves during photosynthesis is diverted to the lacunae in the leaves, and then diffuses through the rhizomes to the roots. Some of the O2 diffuses out of the roots to maintain less hypoxic conditions around the rhizosphere. Seagrasses growing in normally hypoxic or anoxic sediments are dependent on transporting sufficient O2 down to their roots to maintain aerobic respiration and to reduce sulphide formation around the roots.

When factors that negatively inhibit O2 production, such as low light, occur simultaneously with factors that increase the O2 demand, such as increased organic loading of the sediments, the risk of sudden, dramatic loss of seagrass beds is increased, accelerated by the further increase in O2 demand created when the dead plant material is degraded.

Propagation

P. oceanica flowers between August and November. The number of shoots flowering in meadows is generally lower than 3 % per year. However, massive flowering events (more than 10% shoots flowering) have been observed associated with extremely warm summers. Flowering intensity is negatively correlated with water depth.

P. oceanica flowers are yellow and can produce half a dozen seeds per shoot. Fruit are large (10 mm) and known as sea olives. Many female flowers do not develop viable fruits due to abortion and predation, and actual seed production is less than 1% of potential. Among the European seagrasses, only P. oceanica has buoyant seeds capable of long-range (10’s of km) dispersal. Nonetheless, young individuals originating from seedlings are rarely found and P. oceanica primarily propagates vegetatively by elongating the rhizomes; a whole meadow may be one single clone resulting from one ancient seedling.

The little investment and low success of sexual reproduction, combined with the extremely slow clonal spread explains the extremely slow colonisation rate of P. oceanica plants. Numerical models simulating the occupation of space by a P. oceanica meadow indicate that it would need 600 years to cover 66 % of the available space around the Mediterranean coastal strip at depths in which it is able to grow. Similar colonisation time scales have been retrospectively calculated based on patch size and patch growth rate in patchy P. oceanica meadows. The very long time scales for colonisation of this species indicate that recovery of disturbed meadows, where important plant losses have occurred, would involve several centuries.

Ecological Benefits

P. oceanica meadows play an important biological and ecological role, providing benefits to humans that rank among the highest of all ecosystems on earth. They are vital within their ecosystem for the production of oxygen and organic material and they support numerous animal species that utilise them as a site for breeding, feeding and shelter. The leaves and rhizomes increase the surface available to sessile species and offer shelter to mobile species, thereby sustaining a diverse community (Templado 1984). Posidonia beds are especially valuable as nursery grounds for several commercial species (Francour 1997).

A moderately wide (1 km) belt of P. oceanica meadow may produce litter in excess of 125 kg of dry seagrass material per metre of coastline each year (mostly during autumn). This material accumulates on the beach, developing cushions up to 4 metres high, which can in turn sustain a complex invertebrate food web, protect the shoreline from erosion, deliver inorganic material in the form of carbonate and silica shells and, when transported further inland by the wind, may act as seed material for dune formation (Borum et al. 2004).

Dried P. oceanica leaves were traditionally used in Mediterranean countries as packing material to transport fragile items of glassware and pottery, and also to ship fresh fish from the coast to cities. As parasites are less successful in P. oceanica leaves than in straw, they were utilised in stables, as roof insulation, and as a filling material for mattresses to prevent respiratory infections. Further medicinal uses included the alleviation of skin diseases and leg pain caused by varicose veins.

The seasonality of P. oceanica allows other ecosystems to be enriched by the swathe of organic material that is carried by the currents and waves. The biomass of P. oceanica decomposes slowly and stores a significant amount of carbon in the sediment over long periods. Seagrasses are responsible for 12% of the carbon stored in ocean sediments and play a significant role in the regulation of the global carbon cycle. In daylight, P. oceanica meadows oxygenate coastal waters (Bay 1984), and have been called the lungs of the Mediterranean Sea.

Left undisturbed over a very long period P. oceanica seagrass beds form into reefs that slow down wave movement and protect the shore from erosion. The leaves trap larger grains of sand, providing a natural filter that ensures water reaching the shore is clearer and cleaner. P. oceanica meadows are excellent indicators of environmental quality as they can only grow in clean unpolluted waters. Moreover, their rhizomes concentrate radioactive, synthetic chemicals and heavy metals, recording the environmental levels of such persistent contaminants.

Species that Depend on the Posidonia oceanica Habitat

P. oceanica meadows serve as sanctuaries for numerous species during breeding and as a year round refuge and food source for others. Calcifying organisms such as coralline algae, molluscs and foraminifera, some of which grow between the seagrass shoots and some as epiphytes are important components of the meadows. Epiphytic communities, growing on the leaves and rhizomes of the plant, provide a food source for sea slugs, sea hares (e.g. Aplysia fasciata and Aplysia depilans) and several species of nudibranch, which also deposit their eggs on the Posidonia leaves.