Zostera

2025-09-30T20:16:08Z

2600:1000:B169:4E7D:786D:2F7:C0C0:B43C: /* Ecology */removed unnecessary adjective

{{Short description|Genus of aquatic plants}}
{{About|saltwater eelgrasses|freshwater eelgrasses|Vallisneria}}
{{italic title}}
{{automatic taxobox
|name= ''Zostera'' (marine eelgrasses)
|image = Eelgrass.jpg
|image_caption = ''[[Zostera marina]]''
|taxon = Zostera
|authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]
|synonyms_ref = <ref name=y/>
|synonyms =
*''Alga'' Tourn. ex Lam.
*''Heterozostera'' (Setch.) Hartog
*''Nanozostera'' Toml. & Posl.
| range_map = World map ocean genus-Zostera.jpg
| range_map_caption = Global distribution map of ''Zostera''. Green indicates presence.
}}
[[Image:Zostera.jpg|thumb|right|''Zostera'' sp in Mussel Ridge Channel, Birch Island, [[Maine]]]]

'''''Zostera''''' is a small [[genus]] of widely distributed [[seagrass]]es, commonly called '''marine eelgrass''', or simply '''seagrass''' or '''eelgrass'''. The genus ''Zostera'' contains 15 species.

==Ecology==
''[[Zostera marina]]'' is found on sandy substrates or in [[estuary|estuaries]], usually submerged or partially floating. Most ''Zostera'' are [[perennial]]. They have long, bright green, ribbon-like leaves, the width of which are about {{convert|1|cm|1}}. Short stems grow up from extensive, white branching [[rhizome]]s. The flowers are enclosed in the sheaths of the leaf bases; the fruits are bladdery and can float.

''Zostera'' beds are important for sediment deposition, substrate stabilization, as substrate for epiphytic [[algae]] and micro-invertebrates, and as nursery grounds for many species of important fish and shellfish. ''Zostera'' often forms beds in [[bay mud]] in the estuarine setting. It is an important food for [[brant goose|brant geese]] and [[wigeon]]s, and even (occasionally) [[caterpillar]]s of the [[grass moth]] ''[[Dolicharthria punctalis]]''.

The [[slime mold]] ''[[Labyrinthula]] [[Labyrinthula zosterae|zosterae]]'' can cause the wasting disease of ''Zostera'', with ''Z. marina'' being particularly susceptible, causing a decrease in the populations of the fauna that depend on ''Zostera''.

''Zostera'' is able to maintain its [[Turgor pressure|turgor]] at a constant pressure in response to fluctuations in environmental [[osmolarity]]. It achieves this by losing solutes as the tide goes out and gaining solutes as the tide comes in.

==Distribution==

The genus as a whole is widespread throughout seashores of much of the Northern Hemisphere as well as [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], [[Southeast Asia]] and southern [[Africa]]. The discovery of ''[[Zostera chilensis|Z. chilensis]]'' in 2005 adds an isolated population on the Pacific coast of [[South America]] to the distribution. One species (''[[Zostera noltii|Z. noltii]]'') occurs along the land-locked [[Caspian Sea]].

==Uses==
Eelgrass has been used for food by the [[Seri people|Seri]] tribe of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] on the coast of [[Sonora]], Mexico. The rhizomes and leaf-bases of eelgrass were eaten fresh or dried into cakes for winter food. It was also used for smoking [[deer]] meat. The [[Seri language]] has many words related to eelgrass and eelgrass-harvesting. The month of April is called ''xnoois ihaat iizax'', literally "the month when the eelgrass seed is mature".<ref name="Felger 1985">{{cite book |last1=Felger |first1=Richard |last2=Moser |first2=Mary B. |author2link=Mary B. Moser|title=People of the Desert and Sea: Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians |url=https://archive.org/details/peopleofdesertse0000felg |url-access=registration |location=Tucson |year=1985 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=9780816508181 }}</ref>

''Zostera'' has also been used as packing material and as stuffing for mattresses and cushions.

On the [[Denmark|Danish]] island of [[Læsø]] it has been used for thatching roofs. Roofs of eelgrass are said to be heavy, but also much longer-lasting and easier to thatch and maintain than roofs done with more conventional thatching material.
More recently, the plant has been used in its dried form for insulation in eco-friendly houses and as a ground cover in [[permaculture]] gardens, once its salt layer washed off (ex: Friland, Danish eco-village).

In the United States, eelgrass insulation was commercially marketed in the early 1900s as Cabot's Quilt by the Samuel Cabot Co of Boston. However, due to an outbreak of ''[[Labyrinthula]] zosterae'' which destroyed crops of eelgrass, combined with the collapse of the homebuilding industry due to the great depression, it went out of production and was replaced in new homes with fiberglass (introduced in the late 1930s).

Some studies show promise for [[Seagrass meadows|eelgrass meadows]] to sequester atmospheric carbon to reduce anthropogenic climate change.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Holmer |first1=Marianne |title=Underwater Meadows of Seagrass Could Be the Ideal Carbon Sinks |journal=Smithsonian Magazine |date=1 November 2018 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/underwater-meadows-could-be-ideal-carbon-sinks-180970686/ |access-date=11 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

''Zostera'' can also be utilized to produce biomass energy using the [[Jean Pain]] method.

==Species==
;Accepted species<ref name="y">{{Cite web|url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=309029|title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|website=apps.kew.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2017-02-02}}</ref>
* ''[[Zostera asiatica]]'' Miki – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, NE China
* ''[[Zostera caespitosa]]'' Miki – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, NE China
* ''[[Zostera capensis]]'' Setchell – Madagascar; Kenya to Cape Province
* ''[[Zostera capricorni]]'' Ascherson – New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand
* ''[[Zostera caulescens]]'' Miki – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, NE China
* ''[[Zostera chilensis]]'' (J. Kuo) S. W. L. Jacobs & D. H. Les – Chile
* ''[[Zostera japonica]]'' Ascherson & Graebner – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam
* ''[[Zostera marina]]'' L. – shores of North Pacific, North Atlantic, British Isles Mediterranean, Black Sea, Sea of Okhotsk
* ''[[Zostera mucronata]]'' den Hartog – Australia
* ''[[Zostera muelleri]]'' Irmisch ''ex'' Ascherson – Australia
* ''[[Zostera nigricaulis]]'' (J.Kuo) S.W.L.Jacobs & D.H.Les – Australia
* ''[[Zostera noltii]]'' Hornem. – shores of Northeastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian Sea
* ''[[Zostera novazelandica]]'' Setchell – New Zealand
* ''[[Zostera polychlamys]]'' (J.Kuo) S.W.L.Jacobs & D.H.Les – Australia
* ''[[Zostera tasmanica]]'' Martens ''ex'' Ascherson – Australia

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Zostera}}
* [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/feout?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Zostera&SPECIES_XREF=&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK= Flora Europaea: ''Zostera'']
* [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=135358 Flora of North America: ''Zostera'']
* [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=3&taxon_id=135358 Flora of China: ''Zostera'' species list]
* [http://www.ukmarinesac.org.uk/communities/zostera/z4_2.htm Wasting disease of ''Zostera''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171203/http://www.ukmarinesac.org.uk/communities/zostera/z4_2.htm |date=2016-03-03 }}
* [http://www.buzzardsbay.org/eelgrass.htm Historical Changes of Eelgrass in Buzzards Bay, MA (USA)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422083636/http://www.buzzardsbay.org/eelgrass.htm |date=2014-04-22 }}
* [http://www.seagrassli.org Long Island's Seagrass conservation website, Seagrass.LI]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q157371}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Zostera| ]]
[[Category:Alismatales genera]]
[[Category:Biota of the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Flora of the Pacific]]
[[Category:Biota of the Indian Ocean]]
[[Category:Biota of the Caspian Sea]]
[[Category:Salt marsh plants]]
[[Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]

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Zostera