Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is considered as a keystone habitat, contributing significantly to structure and function of coastal lagoons. However, limited understanding of the factors driving SAV distribution and abundance across a wide range of salinity in tropical coastal lagoons has restricted the effectiveness of managing and preserving the ecosystem services in coastal lagoon habitats. This study examined the distribution and abundance of SAV species in the growing season in relation to water physico-chemical variables and grain sizes of sediment types in a tropical lagoon in Viet Nam. The results revealed that Najas indica and Halophila beccarii were the dominant species in the community of 7 SAV species, accounting for 70% of the total cover and 55% of the total biomass sampled. Variation partitioning showed that both water and sediment variables were important in explaining spatial distribution and abundance of SAV species across the coastal lagoon. Salinity was the most significant predictor variable that accounted for the variation of SAV species data. The study implied that changes of salinity and silt (versus sand) particles can lead to different SAV assemblages in the lagoon.

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Human-induced land use in coastal areas is one of the main threats for seagrass meadows globally causing eutrophication and sedimentation. These environmental stressors induce sudden ecosystem shifts toward new alternative stable states defined by lower seagrass richness and abundance. Enhalus acoroides, a large-sized tropical seagrass species, appears to be more resistant toward environmental change compared to coexisting seagrass species. We hypothesize that reproductive strategy and the extent of seedling recruitment of E. acoroides are altered under disturbance and contribute to the persistence and resilience of E. acoroides meadows. In this research, we studied eight populations of E. acoroides in four lagoons along the South Central Coast of Vietnam using 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci. We classified land use in 6 classes based on Sentinel-2 L2A images and determined the effect of human-induced land use at different spatial scales on clonal richness and structure, fine-scale genetic structure and genetic diversity. No evidence of population size reductions due to disturbance was found, however, lagoons were strongly differentiated and may act as barriers to gene flow. The proportion and size of clones were significantly higher in populations of surrounding catchments with larger areas of agriculture, urbanization and aquaculture. We postulate that large resistant genets contribute to the resilience of E. acoroides meadows under high levels of disturbance. Although the importance of clonal growth increases with disturbance, sexual reproduction and the subsequent recruitment of seedlings remains an essential strategy for the persistence of populations of E. acoroides and should be prioritized in conservation measures to ensure broad-scale and long-term resilience toward future environmental change.

Lagoonal environments exhibit high levels of instability depending on hydrological, climatic and ecological factors, thereby influencing the distribution and structure of submerged plant communities. Conditions typically fluctuate widely due to the interaction of freshwater from rivers with saltwater from the sea, as well as from aquaculture activities that together influence submerged hydrophyte community spatial and temporal variability depending on plant survival strategies. Ruppia species feature either underwater pollination mediated by an air bubble or by the release of pollen floating at the water surface, the former promoting self-pollination. Tropical Asian Ruppia brevipedunculata Yu and den Hartog was assumed to pollinate below the water surface and identified as a separate lineage among selfed Ruppia taxa. We used nine nuclear microsatellites to estimate inbreeding levels and connectivity of R. brevipedunculata within a large SE Asian lagoon complex. Ruppia brevipedunculata meadows were strongly inbred as could be derived from the many monomorphic or totally fixed loci for unique alleles in different parts of the lagoon, which appears consistent with selfing behavior. Those from aquaculture ponds were highly inbred (FIS = 0.620), though less than open lagoon sites that showed nearly total inbreeding (FIS = 0.942). Ruppia brevipedunculata from two major lagoon parts were highly differentiated with spatially structured gene pools and a strong barrier between parts of the lagoon over a 30 km distance. Migration-n analysis indicated unidirectional though limited gene flow and following potential hydrological connectivity. Overall, private alleles under homozygote conditions explained a stronger genetic differentiation of populations situated inside aquaculture ponds than of open lagoon populations. Kinship values were only relevant up to 5 km distance in the open lagoon. Within a confined area of aquaculture ponds featuring dense vegetation in stagnant water, there would be opportunity for mixed pollination, thereby explaining the higher diversity of unique multilocus genotypes of aquaculture pond habitats. Low connectivity prevents gene pools to homogenize however promoted sites with private alleles across the lagoon. Complex hydrodynamic systems and human-made habitats enclosed by physical structures impose barriers for propagule dispersal though may create refugia and contribute to conserving regional genetic diversity.