First description of seagrass meadows from Fernando de Noronha archipelago in the tropical Southwestern Atlantic
2021
Magalhães, Karine Matos | Amaral, Camila Bezerra
Global challenges for seagrass conservation include increasing societal recognition of the importance of seagrass and assessing its distribution and status. We present the first characterization of a Halodule wrightii meadow in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil. The seagrass was registered in Sueste Bay, which is the most sheltered coastal environment of the archipelago and is also where the only mangrove on a Brazilian oceanic island is located. The mean shoot density was 6690 ± 2670 shoots.m⁻², the mean aboveground and belowground biomasses were 15.33 ± 8.46 gDW.m⁻² and 69.51 ± 61.65 gDWm⁻², respectively. Additionally, the mean leaf length and width were 7.7 ± 1.7 cm and 0.05 ± 0.02 mm, respectively. In Fernando de Noronha, H. wrightii is a food source for sea turtles and is probably the only seagrass population on the Northeastern coast that was not affected by the crude oil spill that reached the Brazilian coast in 2019. Our results represent an essential starting point for raising awareness about the importance of seagrass in one of the most important marine protected areas on the Brazilian coast.
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