Seagrass communities of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia

Abstract

The seagrass communities of the Gulf of Carpentaria were mapped and classified in terms of their species composition, their areas of shoot surface and their above-ground biomass. A total of 906.4 km2 of seagrass habitat, fringing 671.1 km of coastline was identified, mapped and sampled. Eleven seagrass species (approx. 20% of all known species) were recorded. In all, 74% of the seagrass communities occur along open coastlines and are characterized by depth-zoned species distributions (intertidally and subtidally), variable shoot-surface areas and variable above-ground biomass values. Each zone was dominated bfone or two of the following species: Syringodium isoetifolium, Cymodocea serrulata, Halodule uninervis, Halophila ovalis and Halophila spinulosa. Of the remaining seagrass, 10% occurred on reef flats in mixed-species communities, !3% in a regionally restricted monospecific community of Halodule uninervis, and 4% in communities dominated by Enhalus acoroides.