Modelling fish populations and their relationship with seagrass
(J
Boland, B Brown,
J Filar and L McArthur,
with K Edvayne and K Jones)
This collaborative project funded with the help of an APA (I) scholarship is aimed at quantifying the value of a natural resource: seagrass. Seagrass is an underwater flowering plant which thrives in clear, sheltered coastal waters around the world. It is well documented that seagrasses play an important role in the marine environment as feeding, sheltering and breeding habitats for many species of fish and in sediment stabilisation and water filtration.
Although not all seagrass loss or degradation is due to anthropological causes, humans need to be aware that some human activities can cause death and degradation of seagrass and that there is a need to modify our priorities accordingly. This project aims to develop a guide to the cost of the habitat loss so that realistic and cost effective alternatives can be found to ensure that seagrass will be preserved.