Ecosystem Services

4. Ecosystem services of
eelgrass meadows
4.1 Distribution and physical requirements
Worldwide there are about 60 different species of seagrasses (Green and Short 2003)
and eelgrass, Zostera marina, is the most abundant and important seagrass ecosystem
in the Nordic countries. Eelgrass is widely distributed on the northern hemisphere and
along the European coasts from the Mediterranean to the northern arctic waters of
Norway, and from the coast of Iceland to the Baltic Sea (Figure 10). The biology of the
eelgrass is shown in Box 4.
Figure 10: Geographical distribution of Zostera marina
Source: IUCN (www.iucnredlist.org).
Eelgrass is the most studied seagrass species and this has driven an increased awareness
of important ecosystem services provided by the eelgrass biotope. Scientific
knowledge of the eelgrass biotope is based on many scientific publications; for instance