Management Concern: High    

Adequacy of Information: Low

Summary extracts from Outlook Report 2009

• The Great Barrier Reef is maintaining seagrass biodiversity with local fluctuations in inshore waters.
• Observations suggest that there have been shifts in species composition in some seagrass beds, but do not indicate any Reef-wide changes.
• Herbicides can affect the health of plants in the marine environment and thus affect the levels of primary production in the ecosystem.

What do we know?

Relevant pages from Outlook Online:

• Global distribution of coral, mangrove and seagrass diversity 
• Diversity and distribution of shallow seagrass beds in the Great Barrier Reef
• Trends in seagrass distribution in the Great Barrier Reef
• Responses of seagrass to nutrients in the Great Barrier Reef 
• Composition and distribution of flood plumes in the Great Barrier Reef
• Distribution of deep water seagrasses in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Resilience of seagrass beds
• Deepwater seagrasses in northeastern Australia - how deep, how meaningful?
• Seagrass as nursery for fish and prawn species 
• Marine Monitoring Program - Seagrass 
• Development intensification and water quality pressures on the Great Barrier Reef ecosystems

Existing policies and management actions

• Water Quality Guidelines for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Regional water quality improvement plans
• State Coastal Management Plan 2002 
• Coastal Ecosystem Management Position Paper
• Seagrass Watch 
• Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program
• Improving water quality
• Coastal ecosystem protection

Future management requirements

• Draft Queensland Coastal Management Plan 
• Biodiversity strategy

Defined research questions

• There are currently no defined research questions for this topic. Research questions will be developed, giving priority to interactions/issues that are of most concern to management.

Related information

• Current Research and Monitoring