WSC22 Sessions

The 2022 World Seagrass Conference is shaping up to be an incredible event. The following sessions will be included in the program. We appreciate everyone that submitted an abstract for consideration and look forward to hearing all about your research at the 2022 World Seagrass Conference!

• 1A: Chesapeake Bay Partnership and Collaboration

  Convener(s):
  Brooke Landry, Maryland Department of Natural Resources

  Date and Time: 8 August, 2022; 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

  Description:

  The conservation, restoration, and management of Chesapeake Bay and its resources has been a 40+ year exercise in multi-jurisdictional partnership and collaboration. During this session, participants will hear from the agencies and organizations that have led the way and made progress possible. Leaders from the Chesapeake Bay Program, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake Research Consortium, and Waterkeepers Chesapeake will discuss their unique roles in the partnership - specifically how those roles have contributed to the recovery of SAV in Chesapeake Bay.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Brooke Landry	Talk	The CBP's SAV Workgroup: The benefits of multi-institutional collaboration in SAV restoration and management
  Carin Bisland	Talk	Chesapeake Bay Program: Approaches for Setting, Overseeing, and Attaining Restoration Goals.
  Denice Wardrop	Talk	Chesapeake Research Consortium: Translating Science to Management
  Jana Davis	Talk	Chesapeake Bay Trust: Identifying and Funding Key Barriers to Meeting Goals
  Kate Fritz	Talk	Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay: Engaging a Watershed
  Betsy Nicholas	Talk	Waterkeepers Chesapeake: The role of Riverkeepers in SAV Monitoring, Restoration, Outreach, and Advocacy

• 1B: Successful tropical/subtropical seagrass restoration: Longevity, species for various impacts, services reassembled

  Convener(s):
  Anitra Thorhaug, Greater Caribbean Energy and Environment Foundation and Yale University

  Date and Time: 8 August, 2022; 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

  Description:

  This session will highlight the results of over 80 sets of trials, over 300 ha of seagrass in the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic tropical/subtropical basins. Speakers will demonstrate the methods, species, and planting designs creating the successful plantings in both the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic tropics/subtropics from multiple sets of restorations in key areas. These have been highlighted in our three recent seagrass reviews. The impacts overcome by means of restorative plantings will also be detailed as to species and techniques. This will emphasize data due to various types of impacts, and their successful solutions. The end result of successful longevity and sustainability will be emphasized with restoration sustaining as old as 47 years. The services measured from these restorations will be delineated such as animal recolonization studies, biodiversity, blue carbon results in restorations, sediment/seagrass interactive resilience. The various restoration projects have had layers of preliminary tests creating better final larger-scale restorations, which will be discussed. Large scale restoration techniques from 12 ha to 50 ha will also be emphasized as to differing techniques to rapidly install large areas manually. Studies of differences and similarities of restoration species especially in co-genators (Thalassia, Halodule, Syringodium, Halophila, Ruppia) and mixed plantings across the major large tropical oceanic basins of Atlantic and Indo-Pacific will be emphasized.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Anitra Thorhaug	Talk	Tropical and subtropical Southeast Asian Seagrass restoration review and analysis
  Manuela Amone-Mabuto	Talk	Metrics of seagrass restoration – case of Oceana serrulata in the Western Indian Ocean
  Enie Hensel	Talk	Adaptive seagrass restoration - a habitat restoration experiment comparing stoic Zostera marina & opportunistic Ruppia maritima bed structure and function
  Arianna Pansini	Talk	A collated evidence review to identify the gaps in the restoration ecology of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica
  Gnilane Diouf for Seydouba SOUMAH	Lightning Talk	Assessing the role of seagrasses as a socio-ecological system: A case study from Cape Verde (Gamboa Bay)
  Sheila Scolaro	Lightning Talk	Sexual Reproductive Ecology of Thalassia testudinum in Tampa Bay, Florida

• 2A: Trajectories of recovery after degradation in seagrass ecosystem structure, function and services

  Convener(s):
  Jessie Jarvis, University of North Carolina Wilmington

  Date and Time: 8 August, 2022; 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

  Description:

  Seagrass ecosystems are inherently dynamic and respond to disturbance across a range of scales. Globally many seagrass ecosystems have been lost or declined but in the last decade the rate of decline has reduced and, in some places, there has been successful recovery of seagrass ecosystems, at times facilitated by restoration. Recovery is a concept with varied definitions and trajectories of recovery can differ depending on the nature of the pressure and the system. This session invites participants to share research and monitoring on the recovery of seagrass ecosystems, particularly on the trajectories of recovery and how the structure, function and ecosystem services of seagrass ecosystems change following degradation and during recovery. As restoration can also be used to initiate recovery or supplement natural recovery processes this is also of interest. We welcome presentations on recovery at the level of seagrass structure (e.g. area, biomass, cover), function (e.g. productivity, nutrient uptake) or ecosystem service (e.g. carbon storage, provision of fisheries). This could include submissions on definitions of recovery, metrics to measure recovery, timescales of recovery and factors that influence recovery. We want to uncover the latest news from practitioners, managers and researchers on seagrass recovery.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Christopher J. Patrick	Talk	Widgeongrass: The seagrass of the future in a warming Chesapeake Bay
  Rune Christian Steinfurth	Talk	Return of multiple ecosystem services after eelgrass (Zostera marina) transplantations in Danish estuaries
  Gidon Winters	Talk	Predicted warming intensifies the negative effects of eutrophication on tropical seagrass: implementation of lipidomic analyses as a sensitive indicator
  Mohamed Ahmed SIDI CHEIKH	Talk	Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Intertidal Seagrass Meadows at Banc d’Arguin
  Marc Hensel	Lightning Talk	Envisioning the future for seagrass ecosystems under climate change: critical role of nutrient management for a vegetated Chesapeake Bay
  Savanna Barry	Lightning Talk	Monitoring reveals similar recovery progress among sediment-tube-based propeller scar restoration approaches
  Paul Bologna	Lightning Talk	Hurricanes and Humans: Conflicts in seagrass restoration and mitigation efforts
  Carolyn Ewers Lewis	Lightning Talk	Degradation and recovery of seagrass carbon stocks under thermal stress: a large seagrass disturbance field experiment
  Siti Maryam Yaakub	Lightning Talk	A process-based modelling approach to assessing soil carbon assimilation and sequestration in eelgrass meadows
  Caroline Marie Jaraula	Lightning Talk	Halodule uninervis above- and belowground lipids in varying environmental conditions in Tambac Bay, Philippines

• 2B: Seagrass wasting disease: understanding host-pathogen interactions to ensure success in seagrass conservation & management

  Convener(s):
  Randall Hughes, Northeastern University
  Forest Schenck, Northeastern University
  Torrance Hanley, Northeastern University

  Date and Time: 8 August, 2022; 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

  Description:

  The largest reported seagrass die-off was caused by an outbreak of seagrass wasting disease, caused by parasitic protists in the genus Labyrinthula, along both sides of the Atlantic in the 1930’s. In a sign of success, eelgrass has largely recovered across this region, and disease outbreaks of similar magnitude have not re-occurred. In addition, we have made great progress in our understanding of wasting disease since it was first hypothesized to be behind the declines of eelgrass in the 1930s. Key highlights include the identification of Labyrinthula spp. as the causative agents of wasting disease, the development of visual and molecular parasite detection protocols, and the identification of environmental factors that moderate the seagrass-wasting disease interaction.

  However, wasting disease is endemic throughout the range of eelgrass, and infections have now been observed in all four major seagrass families - Cymodoceaceae, Hydrocharitaceae, Posidoniaceae, and Zosteraceae - suggesting that seagrasses remain at risk of future large-scale outbreaks. This session will bring together seagrass scientists and managers to share our emerging understanding of seagrass-wasting disease interactions, identify remaining areas of uncertainty, and discuss strategies for seagrass management and conservation.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Forest Schenck	Talk	Temperature and host characteristics predict large-scale patterns in wasting disease prevalence
  Lillian Aoki	Talk	Disease surveillance using artificial intelligence links seagrass wasting disease to ocean warming across latitudes
  Viktorie Kolátková	Talk	Under every stone? Phytomyxid parasites in seagrass meadows
  Olivia J. Graham	Talk	Marine herbivores facilitate transmission of a seagrass pathogen
  M. Victoria Agnew	Talk	Pacific oysters are a sink and potential source of the eelgrass pathogen, Labyrinthula zosterae
  Randall Hughes	Talk	Effects of eelgrass (Zostera marina) source identity and diversity on wasting disease prevalence and restoration success

• 3A: Ecosystem ecology: Advances in understanding seagrass and submersed aquatic vegetation ecosystem functioning

  Convener(s):
  Cassie Gurbisz, St. Mary’s College of Maryland
  Lillian Aoki, Cornell University

  Date and Time: 8 August, 2022; 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

  Description:

  Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living and non-living components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. The field emphasizes energy and matter flows through an ecosystem and the ecological functions that drive these flows. Ecosystem ecologists aim to understand how changing ecosystem structures, human stressors, climate change, and ecological interactions affect these functions and how, in turn, ecosystem services are affected. The aim of this session is to highlight new work that advances our understanding of these concepts as they apply to seagrass and submersed aquatic vegetation ecosystems. Presentations will touch on primary production and energy flows, biogeochemical cycling, carbon and nutrient dynamics, ecological interactions, feedback processes, and other topics that frame research questions from an ecosystem perspective. In keeping with the conference theme, the session will emphasize but is not limited to research that draws linkages between ecosystem functioning and seagrass recovery.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Marguerite Koch	Talk	Linkages between seagrass tissue O2 dynamics and ecosystem oxidation and feedbacks revealed using microsensors in situ
  Katherine Haviland	Talk	Assessing the role of light and epibiota in seagrass sulfide incorporation
  Fee Smulders	Talk	Herbivory as a driving force of seagrass species composition and resilience in Caribbean seagrass ecosystems
  Oliver Thomas	Talk	The macrobenthic invertebrate assemblage of a newly established intertidal seagrass meadow in SW England.
  Samantha Lai	Talk	An agent-based model approach to assessing the role of vegetative fragments in seagrass connectivity
  Jessica Pazzaglia	Talk	Local pressures alter seagrass survival to climate change

• 3B: General/Open Call Session 1

  Convener(s):
  Jud Kenworthy, NOAA retired
  Penny Hall, FWC retired

  Date and Time: 8 August, 2022; 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

  Description:

  This session will include talks and posters covering a range of topics that don't fit perfectly in any of the other WSC sessions.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Jason Tanner	Talk	Using Seedlings to Restore Posidonia Seagrass
  Elizabeth Andrews	Talk	Understanding the importance of local adaptation and trait-based selection for seagrass restoration success.
  Laura Reynolds	Talk	Linking population genetics, connectivity, and adaptation in seagrass species with contrasting dispersal strategies
  Patrizia Stipcich	Talk	Marine warming and heat waves effects on Posidonia oceanica across a longitudinal gradient in the Mediterranean Sea: the importance of a reconstruction technique to forecast seagrass ecology in a changing environment
  Fabio Blanco-Murillo	Talk	OSMOTIC SEAGRASS: osmotic pressure is the only cause of stress responses in seagrasses under desalination brine discharges? Implications for stress biology research and biomonitoring
  Danielle Purvis	Talk	Impacts of Coastal Activities and Marine Protected Areas on Seagrass Cover in Zanzibar from 2006 to 2019

• 4A: Plant-animal interactions that affect success

  Convener(s):
  Bradley J. Peterson, Stony Brook University
  Ken Heck, Dauphin Island Sea Lab
  Bradley T. Furman, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
  John M. Carroll, Georgia Southern University
  Diana Chin, Stony Brook University
  Allison Rugila, Stony Brook University

  Date and Time: 9 August, 2022; 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM

  Description:

  There is a rich history of plant-animal interactions within seagrass meadows. As foundation species, seagrasses host a diverse array of associated fauna. Although the direct positive impact of seagrass habitat structure on faunal diversity and abundance is widely acknowledged, the role of animals on seagrass productivity and resilience range dramatically from positive to negative. Often these plant-animal interactions even involving the same species change along gradients of environmental stress. This session will present recent work focusing particularly on plant-animal interactions that may affect restoration success. Some presentations will address how animals ameliorate environmental stress. Studies of infaunal bivalves modulating light and nutrient resources to the plant as well as how chemosynthetic bivalves reduce sediment sulfide stress will be discussed. Others will discuss the role that animals play in both positive and negative ways on seagrass reproductive output. The positive impact of epi and infaunal bivalves enhancing seed production as well as the negative impact of seed predators on seed production and subsequent recruitment. The demonstrated negative impact of direct herbivory will be presented with particular attention to impacts on seagrass restoration. Finally, the role of the plant on shellfish restoration will be presented focusing on the impact of the plants CO2 drawdown on recruiting shellfish growth and survival. Animal-plant interactions are critical components of many ecological processes within seagrass meadows affecting seed production and pollination, light and nutrient resource availability, ameliorating environmental stress and disruption of primary production via consumption. Therefore these interactions may have significant consequences on restoration success.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Ken Heck	Lightning Talk	Herbivory on Seagrassses: an Evolving Paradigm
  Christian Tettelbach	Lightning Talk	Effects of CO2, light, and invasive amphipod herbivory on eelgrass (Zostera marina) in San Francisco Bay, CA
  Manuja Lekammudiyanse	Lightning Talk	Simulated megaherbivore grazing as a driver of Zostera muelleri flowering
  Masahiro Nakaoka	Talk	Multiple plant-animal interactions in an eelgrass bed: modelling the impact of shellfish on eelgrass and vice versa
  Melisa Wong	Lightning Talk	Functional trait complementarity and dominance both determine benthic secondary production in temperate seagrass beds
  Diana Chin	Talk	Environmental context dependence of positive interactions between chemosymbiotic bivalves and seagrasses
  Katharyn Boyer	Lightning Talk	Mix or match? Choosing donor beds for eelgrass restoration in San Francisco Bay
  Tadhg O Corcora	Lightning Talk	Seagrass Zostera marina restoration in the German Baltic Sea enhances biodiversity while biodiversity in turn regulates transplant success
  Stephanie R. Valdez	Talk	Positive Ecological Interactions and the Success of Seagrass Restoration

• 4B: Advances in Seagrass and Optical Water Quality Remote Sensing

  Convener(s):
  Richard Zimmerman, Old Dominion University
  Paul Carlson, Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

  Date and Time: 9 August, 2022; 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM

  Description:

  In the past, seagrass mapping and in situ optical water quality measurements have been expensive and time-consuming, limiting their spatial and temporal coverage. However, new satellites and sensors, image analysis methods, and improved access to data will allow more frequent and cost-effective mapping of seagrass and will increase the frequency and area where remotely sensed optical water quality measurements can be made. At last count, there were more than 50 satellites collecting multispectral imagery at spatial resolutions from one meter to one kilometer with spectral resolution from 3 to 10 or more bands, and revisit times range from one day to two weeks. These commercial satellites provide synoptic and seamless multispectral imagery over large areas at costs that compare favorably with conventional aerial photography but with much less processing effort.

  Commercial and freely available software and workflows based on object-based image analysis make seagrass mapping faster and more reproducible than traditional manual methods. Satellites also offer the possibility of collecting estimates of transparency, phytoplankton chlorophyll, CDOM, and turbidity- key determinants of seagrass survival, distribution, and abundance. Presenters will discuss methods, obstacles, and solutions for coastal optical water quality measurements as well as new data access and delivery methods that make imagery and other data more accessible and make data analysis easier.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Avi Putri Pertiwi	Talk	Cloud-native Remotely-sensed Seagrass Extent and Blue Carbon Stock Assessment in Mozambique
  Cara Lin	Talk	Spatial Changes in Guam’s seagrass from 1993 to 2021
  C. Benjamin Lee	Talk	Nationwide seagrass mapping using analysis-ready Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope data to support the Nationally Determined Contributions of Seychelles
  Xuan Truong Trinh	Talk	National scale time series of seagrass ecosystems in Vietnam over 30 years using Landsat images
  Spyridon Christofilakos	Talk	Advances in Seagrass and Optical Water Quality Remote Sensing
  Rod Connolly	Talk	Upscaling seagrass monitoring using underwater drones and automated image processing

• 5A: General/Open Call Session 2

  Convener(s):
  Bob Murphy, Tetra Tech

  Date and Time: 9 August, 2022; 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

  Description:

  This session will include talks and posters covering a range of topics that don't fit perfectly in any of the other WSC sessions.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Yusmiana Rahayu	Talk	Changes in sediment carbon stock following seagrass restoration in Shark Bay, Western Australia
  Emma Jackson	Talk	Reactive persistence and seagrass restoration
  Jessie Jarvis	Talk	Trailing vs Leading Edge Seagrasses: Influence on Meadow Resilience and Recovery
  Craig Sherman	Talk	Assessing seed- and shoot-based techniques for restoring the intertidal seagrass, Zostera muelleri, in temperate Australia.
  Andria Ostrowski	Talk	Fluctuating fortunes enhance multiple stressor science for seagrass ecosystems
  W. Judson Kenworthy	Talk	What turned off the lights; introduction of the non-native seagrass Halophila stipulacea into a bioluminescent bay, Vieques, Puerto Rico?

• 5B: Seagrass-shellfish interactions

  Convener(s):
  Elizabeth Lacey, Stockton University

  Date and Time: 9 August, 2022; 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

  Description:

  Collectively submerged aquatic vegetation and shellfish communities provide a diverse suite of services that increase the diversity and productivity of coastal ecosystems while performing additional important ecosystem functions such as sediment stabilization and water filtration. Both seagrass and shellfish habitats work synergistically to increase coastal resilience while positive feedbacks within the ecosystems can serve to support further growth and establishment of both communities. Worldwide both shellfish and seagrass communities have been in decline, attributed to habitat degradation via overharvesting, disease, and/or water quality stressors, putting these ecosystem services at risk. Recent results from efforts to understand the interactive relationships between SAV and shellfish have provided mixed results. This session will focus on those interactive components of shellfish – seagrass ecosystems and their impacts on restoration, preservation, or overall ecosystem health.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Abigail Libbin Cannon	Talk	Invasion of the reef urchins: Echinometra spp., runoff, and seagrass community composition in Bocas del Toro, Panamá
  Giulia Ferretto	Talk	Using floating bags for oyster farming is compatible with healthy Posidonia australis seagrass meadows
  Sarah Lummis	Talk	Nearby shellfish aquaculture can promote expansion of eelgrass beds
  Salomao Banderia	Talk	Seagrass Shellfish fisheries in Southern Mozambique, and role of LMMAs in Sustainability of the Coastal Communities.
  Margot Buchbinder	Talk	Legacies of planted eelgrass (Zostera marina) density and interactions with oyster reefs on plant and invertebrate community establishment
  Elizabeth Lacey	Talk	Using oyster berms (Crassostrea virginica) to facilitate success of eelgrass (Zostera marina) restoration

• 6A: Carbon ecosystem services: The role of seagrasses in carbon cycling and climate change mitigation and adaptation

  Convener(s):
  Aurora M Ricart, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and Bodega Marine Lab, University of California, Davis.
  Gema Hernán, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, Department of Marine Ecology
  Irene Olivé, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Department of Integrative Marine Ecology

  Date and Time: 9 August, 2022; 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

  Description:

  Ecosystem services are defined as the contributions that natural ecosystems make to human societies' welfare. Carbon ecosystem services refer to those services related to carbon cycling and carbon-related climate change mitigation and adaptation. Seagrass meadows are recognized for providing a wide variety of ecosystem services. In terms of carbon, seagrasses play an important role in oceanic carbon cycling with consequences in climate regulation. Seagrass meadows are hot spots of carbon sequestration and carbon burial, acting as relevant carbon sinks at a global scale. Moreover, the metabolic activity of seagrasses can also impact seawater carbonate chemistry potentially buffering ocean acidification effects at a local scale.

  However, due to the combination of multiple biogeochemical processes involved in carbon cycling, together with a large natural spatio-temporal variability in coastal areas, large uncertainty remains associated with the different carbon ecosystem services provided by seagrasses. At present, the quantification and valuation of the contribution of seagrasses to carbon services in relation to future scenarios of rising CO2 concentrations remain largely unknown.

  This session aims to bring together the current state-of-the-art research on seagrass carbon services, as well as discuss possible future trajectories in a high CO2 world. This session welcomes research studies, educational/social initiatives, and policy strategies, aiming at the assessment, management, and restoration of carbon services in seagrass ecosystems. Particularly, we welcome works elucidating the role of seagrasses on organic/inorganic carbon fluxes, carbon stocks, and seawater carbonate chemistry and works looking at different impact scenarios of anthropogenic pressure and climate change in carbon ecosystem services.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Aurora M Ricart	Lightning Talk	Carbon ecosystem services: The role of seagrasses in carbon cycling and climate change mitigation and adaptation
  Kayleigh Granville	Talk	Air-Water Gas Exchange in Temperate Seagrass Meadows
  Márcio Martins	Talk	Carbon stocks, burial rates and environmental DNA in seagrass sediments at the Banc D’Arguin, Mauritania
  Alba Yamuza Magdaleno	Talk	Influence of Cymodocea nodosa density on community metabolism and dissolved organic carbon fluxes (DOC)
  Irene Olivé	Lightning Talk	Carbon metabolism and blue carbon sequestration potential of seagrass beds across latitudinal gradients
  Tanya Prystay	Lightning Talk	Measuring carbon sources and total sequestration by eelgrass meadows in Atlantic Canada
  Casal-Porras, Isabel	Lightning Talk	Sedimentary carbon stocks of intertidal seagrass meadows in an impacted wetland: effects of coastal infrastructure constructions
  Matthew Oreska	Lightning Talk	Carbon stocks, carbon accumulation rates, and GHG flux dynamics of seagrass ecosystems: A systematic review
  Alina Blume	Lightning Talk	Bahamas-wide Seagrass Blue Carbon Assessment leveraging Modern Earth Observation Advances
  Emma Ward	Lightning Talk	Carbon provenance and coastal connectivity -implications for temperate seagrass carbon sequestration capacity
  Jimena Samper-Villarreal	Lightning Talk	Megaherbivore exclusion at a long-term monitoring site led to more complex seagrass canopies and increased sediment accretion without an effect on sediment Corg
  Juhyung Lee	Lightning Talk	Resilient consumers accelerate the plant decomposition in a naturally acidified seagrass ecosystem
  Kylor Kerns	Lightning Talk	Quantifying patterns and trends in thermal vulnerability and resilience of seagrass

• 6B: Next generation of technologies for improved seagrass restoration

  Convener(s):
  Nicole Foster, University of Adelaide
  Michelle Waycott, University of Adelaide

  Date and Time: 9 August, 2022; 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

  Description:

  The advent of new technologies and a more sophisticated approach to applying them to solve environmental problems enables exciting opportunities for ecosystem recovery. Greater accuracy and application over larger spatial scales than has been possible previously can now be facilitated. We will explore the potential to reverse seagrass degradation through technological innovation in this symposium. These next generation technologies include molecular toolkits enabling analysis of environmental DNA to recover seagrass community composition over millennia or advances in remote sensing imagery and evaluating risk and recovery options or even utilizing social media platforms and citizen science to activate on-ground works bringing together science and the community. We envisage and will seek out participants to present and explore results from projects taking an innovative technological approach. This represents a potential transdisciplinary symposium incorporating seagrass biology, restoration, conservation and management. Our expected outcomes will be to highlight the potential for step-change scale improvements to recovery of impacted seagrass ecosystems or to ongoing preservation of our amazing natural seagrass meadows around the world.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Dennis Hanisak	Talk	Reversing the Course of Seagrass Loss through Seagrass Restoration in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, an Estuary of National Significance
  Gabriele Procaccini	Lightning Talk	APPLYING MOLECULAR TOOLS FOR SEAGRASS RESTORATION
  Giulia Ferretto	Talk	Storm detached fragments of the endangered seagrass Posidonia australis can be used to restore fragmented meadows
  Laura Govers	Talk	Dispenser Injection Seeding (DIS) advances intertidal eelgrass restoration
  Mareike Taphorn	Lightning Talk	Assess the potential use of seagrass restoration support structures
  Adam Ceesay for Omar Sanneh	Lightning Talk	How far can we restore seagrasses? The onset of a seagrass restoration initiative in West Africa
  T. Erin Cox	Talk	The relationship between genetic variation and resilience for seagrass: what do we really know for actionable science?
  Lucy Coals	Talk	Lessons learned from trialling methods for Zostera restoration in the intertidal zone

• 7A: Seagrasses into the 21st century: Insights from global coordination and a way forward

  Convener(s):
  Jonathan Lefcheck, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
  Emmett Duffy, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

  Date and Time: 9 August, 2022; 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

  Description:

  Large-scale coordination of ecological observing is both more feasible and more valuable than ever before. The growth and interconnection of coordinated networks has provided new insights into changing seascapes worldwide and new opportunities for conservation and management. In this session, we convene scientists cooperating in their exploration of seagrass ecosystems, their patterns and drivers, and the diverse and abundant communities they support. We will report on the first insights from the 2020 Global Seagrass Survey led by Smithsonian’s MarineGEO Network, which includes dozens of partners from all six continents. The project’s aim is to understand the fluxes of energy through seagrass food webs, and how these fluxes are mediated by environmental gradients and the diverse community of organisms that live in seagrass habitats. In doing so, partners will highlight the exciting ongoing work at their sites that aligns with the network themes of biodiversity, habitat use, and food webs and fits into this global picture. We will also synthesize twenty years of data from SeagrassNET, the largest and longest-running coordinated seagrass monitoring program on the planet. We will present the long-term trends in local seagrass abundance and diversity from SeagrassNET sites, link these trends with environmental pressures (such as warming climate), and discuss the future of globally coordinated science, including SeagrassNET.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Jonathan Lefcheck	Talk	Seagrass habitat shapes faunal communities: A global food-web perspective
  Jillian Dunic	Talk	An empirical and predictive framework to understand eelgrass (Zostera marina) responses to multiple pressures
  Emmett Duffy	Lightning Talk	A Pleistocene legacy structures global variation in modern eelgrass ecosystems
  Riccardo Losciale	Lightning Talk	A Climate Vulnerability index for World Heritage seagrass habitats.
  John Stachowicz	Talk	Genomic approaches to understanding the role of local adaptation of seagrasses in a changing world.
  Dottie Byron	Lightning Talk	Creating community. Efforts of the SAV Community of Practice.
  Benjamin Jones	Talk	Citizen science and local ecological knowledge reveal local opportunities for seagrass conservation
  Lina Mtwana Nordlund	Talk	Indo-Pacific Seagrass Network (IPSN): Collaborative research to advance the understanding of seagrass fisheries

• 7B: Microbial ecology in seagrass ecosystems: Uniting the microscale and macroscale perspectives

  Convener(s):
  Belinda C. Martin, University of Western Australia
  Matthew W. Fraser, University of Western Australia
  Sairah Y. Malkin, Horn Point Lab, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences
  Stacey M. Trevathan-Tackett, Deakin University

  Date and Time: 9 August, 2022; 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

  Description:

  Rooted plants form intimate relationships with sediment and soil microorganisms. In terrestrial ecosystems, plant-mycorrhizal and plant-bacterial relationships are ubiquitous and widely understood to affect plant fitness and can affect local and system-level biogeochemical cycling. Plant-microbial interactions in aquatic systems have so far received less attention. Studies of the microbiome – incorporating the collective genomes of the microbes (composed of bacteria, bacteriophage, fungi, protozoa and viruses) that live in a particular ecosystem (e.g. sediment, human gut, surface of a leaf) – have enhanced our understanding of ecosystem functioning, and a recent surge in microbiome research is enabling a deeper understanding of seagrass ecology. Relationships between microbes and plants may take many forms, ranging from mutualistic to parasitic, and may affect a myriad of ecological processes. For example, microbes may promote the supply of nutrients to seagrasses by fixing nitrogen and mobilizing phosphorus. Plant-microbial interactions may also affect competitive outcomes between native and invasive seagrasses through their influence on sediment sulfur cycling. Additionally, as rapid responders to environmental change, seagrass microbiomes may be useful biosensors, serving as early sentinels for detecting change to seagrass health. There is a wealth of opportunity to better understand how the seagrass microbiome and micro-scale interactions may further our understanding of seagrass fitness and be used as a tool for conservation and restoration management.

  In this session, we aim to bring together research that furthers our understanding of microbial processes that affect seagrass ecology, restoration, and management. Research that addresses seagrass-microbial associations and/or micro-scale processes are encouraged.

  Speakers (in order):

  Presenting author	Presentation Type	Title
  Anne Brauer	Talk	Can microorganisms influence germination of seagrass seeds?
  Yi Mei Tan	Talk	Investigating the feasibility of nursery cultivation of the intertidal seagrass, Zostera muelleri, for use in restoration
  Katharina Kesy	Talk	Shifts in sediment and Zostera marina microbiomes at early stages of seagrass restoration in the German Baltic Sea
  Torrance Hanley	Lightning Talk	Effects of depth gradients and plant-soil interactions on trait divergence and local advantage within seagrass meadows
  Ryan Mueller	Lightning Talk	Ocean acidification alters the composition and functional potential of Posidonia oceanica phyllobiome
  Kirk Cammarata	Lightning Talk	Epiphyte Biofilms: Connecting Micro to Mini Scale Indicators of Environment
  Kasper Elgetti Brodersen	Talk	Effects of epiphytes on the seagrass phyllosphere
  Olivia J. Graham	Lightning Talk	Does the seagrass microbiome mediate risk of disease?