Collier, C.J., Langlois, L., Waycott, M., and McKenzie, L.J. (2021) Resilience in practice: development of a seagrass resilience metric for the GBR inshore seagrass marine monitoring program. External Commissioned Report. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville, QLD, Australia.

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Abstract

Sexual reproduction is an important aspect of seagrass resilience and has been in the condition and trend reporting metrics for the inshore seagrass Great Barrier Reef Marine Monitoring Program (MMP). The reproductive effort metric has been one of three equally weighted metrics in the seagrass Index, informing the Reef 2050 Water Quality Report Card (Report Card) since its inception. A recent analysis concluded that it should be replaced with a multivariate resilience metric, which we propose here.

Seagrass resilience is the capacity of the ecosystem to cope with disturbances. Central to the idea of seagrass resilience is the ability to resist disturbances through physiological processes and modifications to morphology, and recover following loss by regeneration from seed and through plant growth. Seagrass species vary in their dependence on resistance and recovery strategies. The species are classed as ‘colonising’, ‘opportunistic’, or ‘persistent’ with increasing dependency on ‘resistance’ and reduced dependency on ‘recovery’ strategies through these groups. The resilience indicator accommodates these species trait differences.

Item ID:	93625
Item Type:	Report (External Commissioned Report)
ISBN:	978-0-6450437-7-8
Copyright Information:	© James Cook University (TropWATER), 2021. This document is licensed for use under a Creative Commons By Attribution 4.0 International licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logos of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, James Cook University and TropWATER, any other material protected by a trademark, content supplied by third parties and any photographs. For licence conditions see: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0
Date Deposited:	07 Sep 2026 04:42
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3108 Plant biology > 310801 Phycology (incl. marine grasses) @ 30% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410401 Conservation and biodiversity @ 30% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410402 Environmental assessment and monitoring @ 40%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180501 Assessment and management of benthic marine ecosystems @ 50% 19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1901 Adaptation to climate change > 190102 Ecosystem adaptation to climate change @ 20% 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180201 Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems @ 30%
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