Rapid sea level rise causes loss of seagrass meadows
Kyle Capistrant‐Fossa, Kenneth H. Dunton
Abstract
Abstract As global declines in seagrass populations continue to cause great concern, long-term assessment of seagrass meadows show promise in furnishing valuable clues into fundamental causes of seagrass loss and drivers of environmental change. Here we report two long-term records of seagrass presence in western Gulf of Mexico coastal waters (Laguna Madre) that provided insight into their rapid decline in a relatively pristine ecosystem. Coincident with unprecedented increases in water depth starting in 2014 (14–25 mm y −1 ), monthly measurements at a deep edge fixed station revealed that two ubiquitous seagrass species ( Halodule wrightii and Syringodium filiforme ) vanished altogether in just five years; a subsequent basin-wide assessment revealed that seagrasses disappeared at 23% of 144 sentinel stations. Models that incorporate differing sea level rise scenarios and water depth thresholds reveal potential global losses of seagrass habitat (14,000 km 2 ), with expansion into newly created shallow habitats constrained by altered natural shorelines.