Abstract
Seagrass phenophases are crucial in understanding their reproductive biology but are seldom documented. We studied flowering and fruiting phenophases of Enhalus acoroides from a mixed-species intertidal seagrass meadow in Ritchie’s archipelago, Andaman Islands, India. The estimated mean densities of pistillate and staminate flowers were 16.0 ± 12.0/ m2 and 12.7 ± 7.3/ m2, respectively. We observed the bloom of free-floating male flowers (961.7 ± 360.4/ m2) during the spring low tides (at mean sea surface temperature ~30°C). Seagrass cover, shoot density, and canopy height of E. acoroides, along with flowering densities, showed a zonal variation within the sampled meadow. We report the first-time observations of several phenophases of E. acoroides, such as female inflorescence buds, male inflorescence, a bloom of released male flowers, pollination, and fertilized flowers from the Indian waters. We also report the prevailing threats to seagrass meadows, such as meadow scarring done by boat anchorage in the Andaman Islands.
Publisher
Wildlife Information Liaison Development Society
Subject
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law,Nature and Landscape Conservation,Animal Science and Zoology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Reference28 articles.
1. Ackerman, J.D. (2006). Sexual reproduction of seagrasses: Pollination in the marine context, pp. 89–109. In: Larkum, A.W.D., R.J. Orth & C.M. Duarte (eds.). Seagrasses, biology, ecology, and conservation. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer, 690 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2983-74
2. Brouns, J.J.W.M. & F.M.L. Heijs (1986). Production and biomass of the seagrass Enhalus acoroides (L.f) Royle and its epiphytes. Aquatic Botany 25: 21–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3770(86)90038-0
3. Bujang, J.S., M.H. Zakaria, A. Arshad, S.L. Lam & H. Ogawa (2006). Flowers and sexes in Malaysian seagrasses. Coastal Marine Science 30(1): 184–188.
4. Darnell, K. & K. Dunton (2016). Reproductive phenology of the subtropical seagrasses Thalassia testudinum (turtle grass) and Halodule wrightii (shoal grass) in the northwest Gulf of Mexico. Botanica Marina 59(6): 473–483.
5. Das, H. (1996). Status of Seagrass habitats of Andaman and Nicobar Coast. Technical Report No. 4, SACON, 39 pp.
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献