Limited nutritional benefit to the seagrass Halophila ovalis, in culture, following sediment organic matter enrichment.

Updated: 2015-01-06

Essential nutrients for seagrass growth may be derived from benthic decomposition of organic matter. Two experiments run consecutively from December 2003 to February 2004 tested this idea. Cores of Halophila ovalis (seagrass-vegetated) and unvegetated sediment (control) from the Swan River, WA were amended with either particulate organic matter (POM) or dissolved organic matter (DOM) to test whether a positive feed-back loop exists, where increased organic matter results in increased seagrass nutrients.