Past, Present & Future of Seagrasses in Yaquina Bay and other Estuaries
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EPA’s Office of Research and Development facility in Newport, now called Pacific Coastal Ecology Branch (PCEB), has been part of the Hatfield Marine Science Center campus since 1980. A major research focus of PCEB since about 1997 has been on the distribution and ecology of seagrasses in Yaquina Bay and other PNW estuaries. Research topics have included seagrass mapping, physiological and biogeochemical responses to water and sediment quality, population dynamics, and ecological modeling as well as studies of ecological interactions with birds, fish and invertebrates. Seagrasses are considered a sentinel species of estuarine health and productivity since they are sensitive to and long-term integrators of environmental conditions. Estuaries are increasingly subjected to stress from natural and anthropogenic nutrients as well as changing temperatures and coastal acidification. This presentation will focus on local and regional changes in the presence and distribution of native eelgrass Zostera marina L. and non-native Japanese eelgrass Z. japonica Aschers. & Greabn. in relation to changing stressors.