Seagrass colonization: patch formation and patch growth in Cymodocea nodosa

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Abstract
This study demonstrates that patch development in a Mediterranean community of Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Ascherson, growing over highly mobile sandy sediments, proceeds by colonization by seedlings (0.047 m-2 yr-1), and subsequent patch development by the surviving seedlings (< 10%). Increased patch cover is obtained by fast growing rhizomes (average elongation = 1.6 m yr-1), and coalescence of neighbour patches. Horizontal patch growth varied substantially among patches due to enhanced patch elongation with increasing patch size, whereas growth variance within patches was attributable to interannual differences consistent among different patches. Comparisons of the measured patch spread rates with those for other seagrasses species show substantial variability (> 2 orders of magnitude) in horizontal growth rates that implies broad differences in the potential for recovery among seagrass species.