A movement ecology framework is applied to enhance our understanding of the causes, mechanisms and consequences of movement in seagrasses: marine, clonal, flowering plants. Four life-history stages of seagrasses can move: pollen, sexual propagules, vegetative fragments and the spread of individuals through clonal growth. Movement occurs on the water surface, in the water column, on or in the sediment, via animal vectors and through spreading clones. A capacity for long-distance dispersal and demographic connectivity over multiple timeframes is the novel feature of the movement ecology of seagrasses with significant evolutionary and ecological consequences. The space–time movement footprint of different life-history stages varies. For example, the distance moved by reproductive propagules and vegetative expansion via clonal growth is similar, but the timescales range exponentially, from hours to months or centuries to millennia, respectively. Consequently, environmental factors and key traits that interact to influence movement also operate on vastly different spatial and temporal scales. Six key future research areas have been identified.

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Lay Abstract The accumulation of seagrass wrack on beaches provides a link between the marine and terrestrial environments and has been shown to play an important role in beach ecology. However there are parts of the world where accumulations of wrack are so pronounced that the wrack piles affect beach shape, and erosion can block harbors and breakwaters. The production of poisonous gases caused by its decay can become a human health hazard. Ideally, numerical models should allow us to predict wrack accumulation under a variety of management scenarios; however, there are few data to use in such numerical modeling. Indeed our understanding of how wrack is deposited to and removed from beaches is limited. This paper provides an exploratory investigation of a range of physical properties of seagrass wrack and establishes a baseline understanding of how these physical properties might impact on its transport and accumulation onto beaches.

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