From Geoscience Australia
JSON format icon JSON RDF format icon RDF ISO19115-3 XML

Microbial nutrient cycling in seagrass sediments

Created 16/10/2025

Updated 16/10/2025

JSON format icon JSON RDF format icon RDF ISO19115-3 XML

Seagrasses are specialised flowering plants with roots and vascular tissue. They differ from algae in that they can absorb and translocate nutrients from soft sediments. This provides seagrasses with access to the generally higher nutrient pools in sediments compared with the overlying water column. The interactions between seagrasses and the sediments surrounding their roots are important in nutrient cycling. Microbial flora in the seagrass rhizosphere form an intimate association with the seagrasses. In particular, nitrogen-fixing bacteria have a very close associationwith seagrass roots. Nitrogen fixed in the sediments can be found in seagrass leaves within hours, although seagrasses do not appear to have endosymbiotic associations like many terrestrial plants. Seagrasses influence the bacteria surrounding the roots via exudation of dissolved organic carbon and oxygen and through seagrass nutrient uptake. This association between seagrasses and bacteria affects both the rates and pool sizes of various elements in the sediments.

Files and APIs

Tags

Additional Info

Field Value
Title Microbial nutrient cycling in seagrass sediments
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/86a16fa6-8b6b-41d5-86c5-dd665bd36fee
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage Australia
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Microbial nutrient cycling in seagrass sediments". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/microbial-nutrient-cycling-in-seagrass-sediments