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Epiphytic microbial communities often have a close relationship with their eukaryotic host, assisting with defence, health, disease prevention and nutrient transfer. Shifts in the structure of microbial communities could therefore have negative effects on the individual host and indirectly impact the surrounding ecosystem, particularly for major habitat-forming hosts, such as kelps in temperate rocky shores. Thus, an understanding of the structure and dynamics of host-associated microbial communities is essential for monitoring and assessing ecosystem changes. Here, samples were taken from the ecologically important kelp, Ecklonia radiata , over a 17-month period, from six different sites in two distinct geographic regions (East and West coasts of Australia), separated by ∼3,300 kms, to understand variation in the kelp bacterial community and its potential environmental drivers. Differences were observed between kelp bacterial communities between the largely disconnected geographical regions. In contrast, within each region and over time the bacterial communities were considerably more stable, despite substantial seasonal changes in environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three species of macroalgae ( Ecklonia radiata , Sargassum linearifolium, and Laurencia brongniartii ) were subjected to future climate change conditions, tested directly for changes in their physiology and chemical ecology, and used in feeding assays with local herbivores to identify the indirect effects of climatic stressors on subsequent levels of herbivory. Each alga had distinct physical and chemical responses to the changes in environmental conditions. In high temperature conditions, S. linearifolium exhibited high levels of bleaching and low maximum quantum yield. For E. radiata, the alga became more palatable to herbivores and the C:N ratios were either higher or lower, dependent on the treatment. Laurencia brongniartii was effected in all manipulations when compared to controls, with increases in bleaching, blade density, and C:N ratios and decreases in growth, maximum quantum yield, blade toughness, total phenolics and consumption by mesograzers. The differential responses we observed in each species have important implications for benthic communities in projected climate change conditions and we suggest that future studies target multi-species assemblage responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seagrass meadows provide valuable socio-ecological ecosystem services, including a key role in climate change mitigation and adaption. Understanding the natural history of seagrass meadows across environmental gradients is crucial to deciphering the role of seagrasses in the global ocean. In this data collation, spatial and temporal patterns in seagrass meadow structure, biomass and production data are presented as a function of biotic and abiotic habitat characteristics. The biological traits compiled include measures of meadow structure (e.g. percent cover and shoot density), biomass (e.g. above-ground biomass) and production (e.g. shoot production). Categorical factors include bioregion, geotype (coastal or estuarine), genera and year of sampling. This dataset contains data extracted from peer-reviewed publications published between 1975 and 2020 based on a Web of Science search and includes 11 data variables across 12 seagrass genera. The dataset excludes data from mesocosm and field experiments, contains 14 271 data points extracted from 390 publications and is publicly available on the PANGAEA® data repository (10.1594/PANGAEA.929968; Strydom et al., 2021). The top five most studied genera are Zostera, Thalassia, Cymodocea, Halodule and Halophila (84 % of data), and the least studied genera are Phyllospadix, Amphibolis and Thalassodendron (2.3 % of data). The data hotspot bioregion is the Tropical Indo-Pacific (25 % of data) followed by the Tropical Atlantic (21 %), whereas data for the other four bioregions are evenly spread (ranging between 13 and 15 % of total data within each bioregion). From the data compiled, 57 % related to seagrass biomass and 33 % to seagrass structure, while the least number of data were related to seagrass production (11 % of data). This data collation can inform several research fields beyond seagrass ecology, such as the development of nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation, which include readership interested in blue carbon, engineering, fisheries, global change, conservation and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seagrass meadows provide valuable socio-ecological ecosystem services, including a key role in climate change mitigation and adaption. Understanding the natural history of seagrass meadows across environmental gradients is crucial to decipher the role of seagrasses in the global ocean. In this data collation, spatial and temporal patterns in seagrass meadow structure, biomass, production and reproduction data are presented as a function of biotic and abiotic habitat characteristics. The biological traits compiled include measures of meadow structure (e.g., percent cover and shoot density), biomass (e.g., above-ground biomass), production (e.g., shoot production), and reproduction effort (e.g., flowering intensity and seed bank density). Categorical factors include bioregion, geotype (coastal or estuarine), genera and year of sampling. This dataset contains data extracted from peer-reviewed publications published between 1975 and 2020 based on a Web of Science search, and includes 15 data variables across 12 seagrass genera. The top four most studied genera are Zostera, Thalassia, Halophila and Cymodocea (80% of data), and the least studied genera are Phyllospadix, Amphibolis and Thalassodendron (2.3% of data). The data hotspot bioregion is the Tropical Indo Pacific (25% of data), whereas data for the other five bioregions are evenly spread (ranging between 13 and 16% of total data within each bioregion). From the data compiled, 39% related to seagrass biomass, while the least number of data were related to seagrass production (10% of data). This data collation can inform several research fields beyond seagrass ecology, such as the development of nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation, which include readership interested in blue carbon, engineering, fisheries, global change, conservation and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]