Back to top Hydrologic optics looks at the factors that determine the color and clarity of water which determines where seagrasses can live. As evident in Chesapeake Bay, many seagrass communities have disappeared as a result of a negative change in water quality, which reduced the available light. Estuarine water quality monitoring programs at SERC will help in the general decision- making process for management strategies for the bay. Reductions in colored dissolved organic matter, phytoplankton and suspended particulate matter may be necessary for seagrass regrowth and survival. These components affect the optical properties of the water which determine water quality. Seagrasses require a minimal amount of light to survive, which has been determined for many species. In general, average minimal light requirements are: 4-29% of the total light measured just below the surface, usually around 20% In comparison, terrestrial plants require significantly less light, 0.5-2% of the light available at the top of the tree canopy. Phytoplankton have even lower light requirements, 0.0005-3% of the light just below the surface. The lower light requirements of phytoplankton is good news, because they are the bottom of the food chain, providing food for all other organisms. On the other hand, phytoplankton can be part of the equation that limits or prevents the growth and survival of SAV. Their pigments can block light from reaching SAVs and eventually reduce the oxygen concentration of the water as they decay. Both lower light and lower oxygen levels decrease the chances of SAV survival. The high minimal light requirements of seagrasses compared to terrestrial plants and plankton underlines the importance of water transparency for seagrasses, which are on the borderline of local extinction in the Rhode River and the Chesapeake Bay. We have a partial list and description of the seagrasses of Chesapeake Bay. Seagrasses are important because they provide: energy for the aquatic environment in the form of food habitat for adult and juvenile fish, invertebrates, waterfowl and shellfish which can mean protection from predators, food and a breeding ground a protection and incubation area for larvae of many species foliage that acts as a sediment trap, therefore increasing sedimentation, reducing turbidity, increasing water clarity and potentially reducing water pollution erosion protection by reducing the focus of wave action and the energy of tidal currents Therefore the survival of seagrasses is important for both water quality and marine life. Back to top Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 647 Contees Wharf Road, P.O. Box 28, Edgewater, MD 21037-0028 Phone: 443-482-2200 Fax: 443-482-2380 All pictures are borrowed from Spenser-Jones, David and Max Wade. Aquatic Plants (1986). ICI Professional Products; Surrey.