Seagrass
Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE
San Jose, Pili, Camarines Sur
SEAGRASS HANDICRAFT STUDY
JOSEPH R. SECINA
RONNA A VILLANUEVA
BSAB 3A
Mrs. CRESILDA M. CANING
Professor
September, 2012
Introduction
Seagrass are flowering plants which grows in marine, fully- saline environment or sometimes near in the sea, even in the farm. Its leaves are long and narrow and very often green, and because the plants often grows in large “meadows” which look like grassland.
Deterioration of Seagrass beds has occurred in many places throughout the world as a result of various environmental changes. Such changes are a result of anthropogenic impacts, including pollution, urbanisation and accelerated sediment transport, as well as sea level rise and climate change (Hemminga and Duarte, 2000). Coincident with land use changes, and in concert with other changes in the estuarine landscape, intertidal and sub tidal seagrass beds have, in many places, been recorded as either retreating or disappearing entirely from estuarine areas. In New Zealand, while there is insufficient quantitative historical data to quantify the rate or extent of change in seagrass habitats nationally, in some locations sufficient information exists to suggest that similar large declines have happened here (e.g. in Tauranga Harbour; Park, 1999). This is correlated with considerable development of the coastal zone in the last century, which is continuing at a rapid rate through ongoing urbanization.
In the later half of last century, the ecological importance of seagrasses became recognised in the scientific literature, and is now reasonably well documented worldwide (Hemminga and Duarte, 2000). There are more than 50 species identified globally, which occupy a wide ecological range, from the intertidal zone down to depths of greater than 50 m where water clarity is sufficiently high. Internationally, seagrass beds are considered to be an important marine
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE
San Jose, Pili, Camarines Sur
SEAGRASS HANDICRAFT STUDY
JOSEPH R. SECINA
RONNA A VILLANUEVA
BSAB 3A
Mrs. CRESILDA M. CANING
Professor
September, 2012
Introduction
Seagrass are flowering plants which grows in marine, fully- saline environment or sometimes near in the sea, even in the farm. Its leaves are long and narrow and very often green, and because the plants often grows in large “meadows” which look like grassland.
Deterioration of Seagrass beds has occurred in many places throughout the world as a result of various environmental changes. Such changes are a result of anthropogenic impacts, including pollution, urbanisation and accelerated sediment transport, as well as sea level rise and climate change (Hemminga and Duarte, 2000). Coincident with land use changes, and in concert with other changes in the estuarine landscape, intertidal and sub tidal seagrass beds have, in many places, been recorded as either retreating or disappearing entirely from estuarine areas. In New Zealand, while there is insufficient quantitative historical data to quantify the rate or extent of change in seagrass habitats nationally, in some locations sufficient information exists to suggest that similar large declines have happened here (e.g. in Tauranga Harbour; Park, 1999). This is correlated with considerable development of the coastal zone in the last century, which is continuing at a rapid rate through ongoing urbanization.
In the later half of last century, the ecological importance of seagrasses became recognised in the scientific literature, and is now reasonably well documented worldwide (Hemminga and Duarte, 2000). There are more than 50 species identified globally, which occupy a wide ecological range, from the intertidal zone down to depths of greater than 50 m where water clarity is sufficiently high. Internationally, seagrass beds are considered to be an important marine