Seagrasses are unique plants; the only group of flowering plants to recolonise the sea. They occur on every continental margin, except Antarctica, and form ecosystems which have important roles in fisheries, fish nursery grounds, prawn fisheries, habitat diversity and sediment stabilisation. Over the last two decades there has been an explosion of research and information on all aspects of seagrass biology. However the compilation of all this work into one book has not been attempted previously. In this book experts in 26 areas of seagrass biology present their work in chapters which are state-of–the-art and designed to be useful to students and researchers alike. The book not only focuses on what has been discovered but what exciting areas are left to discover. The book is divided into sections on taxonomy, anatomy, reproduction, ecology, physiology, fisheries, management, conservation and landscape ecology. It is destined to become the chosen text on seagrasses for any marine biology course.

Transennella spp., indicating that ecological and taphonomic attributes varied notably within and across estuaries. Relative abundance, body size, and taphonomic attributes of Transennella spp. did not correlate significantly with focused productivity proxies or predation. However, drilling frequency had a strong positive correlation with productivity proxies (total dissolved phosphorus and chlorophyll-a) suggesting that predator-prey interactions co-varied tightly with local primary productivity. The uncovered spatial gradient in predation archived by drilling frequencies in mollusk accumulations implies a long-term stability in spatial structuring of ecological interactions. The congruence between the long-term record of predation and the current productivity gradient suggests that long-term spatial dynamics in predator-prey interactions may be hydrologically controlled. This study demonstrates that geohistorical approaches can document long-term relationships between environmental gradients and ecological processes.

Seagrasses are becoming widely used as in situ indicators of the relative health and condition of subtropical and tropical estuarine ecosystems. To permit meaningful management of our estuaries, there is clearly a need to develop and refine ways of effectively monitoring and assessing seagrasses. Seagrasses: Monitoring, Ecology, Physiology, and