Ecological effect of a nonnative seagrass spreading in the Northeast Pacific: A review of Zostera japonica

Heavy metal spatial variation, bioaccumulation, and risk assessment of Zostera japonica habitat in the Yellow River Estuary, China

“…Zostera japonica, also known as dwarf eelgrass, belongs to the family Zosteraceae, which is native to the seacoast of eastern Asia. Z. japonica mainly occurs in intertidal and shallow subtidal areas, from temperate to subtropical regions, along the Pacific coasts of East Asia, along the North Pacific coast, and especially in East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan) and North America (den Hartog, 1970;Short et al, 2001;Short et al, 2007;Mach et al, 2014). Z. japonica has the widest distribution of the seagrass species, and occurs in temperate and subtropical coastal regions.…”

Effects of temperature, salinity and seed age on induction of Zostera japonica germination in North America, USA

“…In just over 50 years since the discovery of the introduced seagrass Zostera japonica in Willapa Bay, WA, this species has spread and is now established from Johnstone Strait and Vancouver Island in Canada, to Humboldt Bay in northern California (WyllieEcheverria and Ackerman, 2003;. Z. japonica is believed to have been unintentionally introduced with aquaculture products, and occupies previously unvegetated intertidal habitat; likely mechanisms of propagule transport include avian and human vectors (see reviews by Mach et al, 2014). Recent research has concluded that Z. japonica is eurythermal with optimal growth at 20 • C (Shafer et al, 2008) and a lethal threshold at 35 • C (Kaldy and Shafer, 2012).…”

“…However, factors controlling reproductive biology and colonization success are poorly characterized. Understanding the reproductive biology of this non-native seagrass that is rapidly colonizing unstructured (e.g., unvegetated) mudflat is critical to developing appropriate management strategies based on ecological effects (Mach et al, 2014).…”

Moderate Increase in TCO2 Enhances Photosynthesis of Seagrass Zostera japonica, but Not Zostera marina: Implications for Acidification Mitigation

“…The native seagrass Z. marina has specifically been identified by Washington State as a biological means to ameliorate acidification (Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification Ocean Acidification., 2012). In addition, both Z. marina and Z. japonica have strong habitat-associations with organisms vulnerable to OA, such as bivalves (Ferraro and Cole, 2012;Mach et al, 2014;Dumbauld and McCoy, 2015). The non-native Z. japonica has colonized previously unvegetated mudflats and is found in the mid to upper intertidal zone, whereas Z. marina has a distribution extending from the lower intertidal to shallow subtidal region; species overlap between Z. marina and Z. japonica can occur in the lower intertidal zone on flat shorelines (Harrison, 1982;Thom, 1990;Kaldy, 2006;Ruesink et al, 2010).…”