Alice Rotini - FedOA - Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

INTRODUCTION
et al., 2006). Similar to a forest on land, the P. oceanica meadow is the “climax”
community in the coastal sea-bed, i.e. the final event of a very long ecological
succession (Molinier and Picard, 1952).
Seagrass meadows play an important role in ecosystems of shallow coastal
waters in several ways by (as reported in Boudouresque et al., 2006):
(1) producing high amount of oxygen and organic matter;
(2) sustaining complex food nets and providing habitat for a highly diverse biota;
(3) playing a crucial role in coastal preservation, by stabilizing sediments and
reducing hydrodynamics effects (see fig. 1.4);
(4) offering a nursery/refuge sites for many fish and invertebrate species.
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