Effect of artificial seagrass on hydrodynamic thresholds for the early establishment of Zostera marina

J. Carus*, C. Arndt, T. J. Bouma, B. Schröder, M. Paul

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Seagrass meadows have disappeared on many coastal sections due to anthropogenic disturbances, diseases, and/or eutrophication. To facilitate informed seagrass restoration, we i) quantified the hydrodynamic dislodgement thresholds for newly transplanted Z. marina shoots, and ii) tested the effect of artificial seagrass (ASG) as a hydrodynamic protection measure. Experiments were carried out by planting Z. marina rhizomes with living shoots into a sediment bed and exposing them to a range of wave and current conditions in a flume. The use of ASG significantly reduced wave height, as well as current velocity. The applied waves led to the development of ripples whereas currents led to erosion of the sediment bed. The number of shoots that were uprooted and dislodged increased with increasing bed shear stress and erosion. By reducing bed shear stress, the ASG raised the input current velocity threshold, which the transplanted shoots were able to withstand. The present study offers insight into the effect of artificial seagrass (ASG) on wave and current attenuation, as well as sediment erosion and shoot dislodgement. Our results help to inform the setting of hydrodynamic thresholds for the early establishment of Z. marina and to define the improvement of hydrodynamic conditions by ASG.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)17-27
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Ecohydraulics
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The work was funded by MWK Lower Saxony Niedersächsisches Vorab as part of the collaborative project “SeaArt - Long term establishment of SEAgrass ecosystems through biodegradable ARTificial meadows", funded by the Federal State of Lower Saxony” (Grant No. ZN3187). We thank Raúl Villanueva and Magnus Asmussen for gathering the plant material and the whole SeaArt team for inspirations on the experiments and the manuscript. We furthermore thank Lennart van IJzerloo for technical support at the NIOZ.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research.

Funding

The work was funded by MWK Lower Saxony Niedersächsisches Vorab as part of the collaborative project “SeaArt - Long term establishment of SEAgrass ecosystems through biodegradable ARTificial meadows", funded by the Federal State of Lower Saxony” (Grant No. ZN3187). We thank Raúl Villanueva and Magnus Asmussen for gathering the plant material and the whole SeaArt team for inspirations on the experiments and the manuscript. We furthermore thank Lennart van IJzerloo for technical support at the NIOZ.

Keywords

  • bed shear stress
  • Current velocity
  • erosion
  • ripple formation
  • seagrass restoration
  • wave energy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Effect of artificial seagrass on hydrodynamic thresholds for the early establishment of Zostera marina'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this