MarineGEO Seagrass Habitat Monitoring Protocol
The seagrass measurements described here provide data in a standardized way that can be compared across sites, species, and through time. They are intended to capture the condition of seagrass habitats at a specific time and, when repeated through time, their changing status. These measurements of seagrass percent cover and species composition fulfill the requirements for those components of the Global Ocean Observing System’s (GOOS) Essential Ocean Variable (EOV) ‘Seagrass cover and composition’. They also produce data that is interoperable with data from most other established seagrass monitoring programs, including SeagrassNET and Seagrass-Watch and can be combined to inform local to global reporting on the seagrass EOV. When combined with measurements of seagrass meadow areal extent, the data can inform the Global Biodiversity Framework’s headline indicator ‘Extent of natural ecosystems’ for seagrass.
The following protocols are required to be conducted yearly by MarineGEO partners and are described in the PDF protocol document:
· Site Selection and Establishment
· Seagrass Cover and Density
· Seagrass Shoots and Leaves
The following protocols are optional, and we encourage partners to conduct them at least once for their site, but can conduct annually, if interested:
- Mobile Invertebrate Survey (https://doi.org/10.25573/serc.28842893)
- Sediment Organic Matter (https://doi.org/10.25573/serc.14925111)
The MarineGEO protocol is designed to work across a broad range of seagrass species, environments, and geographic regions. As seagrasses and their environments differ widely across the globe, these protocols may need modification for particular situations. Please contact us at marinegeo@si.edu to discuss how to adapt this protocol to ensure data from your specific site is comparable with data from other seagrass habitats worldwide.
