RUI: The role of ecological memory in nearshore seagrass beds affected by multiple stressors

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

This project seeks to determine how ecological memory, shaped by an extreme disturbance, informs the response of coastal ecosystems to multiple stressors at population, community, and ecosystem levels. Seagrass ecosystems are among the most highly productive ecosystems on earth, yet are vulnerable to disturbance by both human activity and natural processes.

Hurricane Dorian was a Category 5 hurricane that hit the Bahamas in 2019. By comparing seagrass communities in the direct path of the storm with neighboring areas that were less impacted, this project is evaluating how ecological memory might affect responses of seagrass ecosystems to common human-caused and natural stressors. The investigators are early-career scientists, and results from this study are likely to inform conservation, management, and restoration of seagrass ecosystems.

They are providing substantial educational opportunities for students in the United States and in the Bahamas, including virtual and hands-on field research experiences for undergraduate students, some from groups traditionally underrepresented in science. Facilitated by Friends of the Environment, a local NGO on Abaco Island, virtual reality videos and curricula will also enhance STEM educational opportunities for Bahamian high school students

Seagrass ecosystems, a widespread and ecologically important nearshore system, may be shaped by the ecological memory of past disturbances. These legacies may influence how seagrass ecosystems respond to environmental change. The investigators will conduct new research that complements seven years of existing data in a study system in the path of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas to assess how ecological memory shapes the response of coastal seagrass beds at multiple levels of biological organization.

They are using a combination of modeling, field observations, field experiments, and laboratory analyses to compare highly and minimally hurricane-impacted sites to determine: the distribution and relative abundance of three seagrass species; the relative abundance and species diversity of naturally occurring invertebrate and vertebrate grazers; overall species richness, functional diversity, and habitat complexity of each field site; seagrass growth rates and primary productivity; and abiotic environmental characteristics — irradiance, temperature, and nutrient content— of ambient seawater. They will sample twenty plots per site each quarter—including unaltered controls and experimental plots simulating mechanical damage, increased grazing pressure, and both mechanical damage and grazing.

The goal is to provide a better understanding of how ecological memory drives the outcome of current ecological processes, which in turn will inform conservation and restoration efforts as seagrasses continue to decline globally.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.