Seagrasses are an enigmatic, yet extremely important group of aquatic plants, and scientific interest in these valuable ecosystems has grown exponentially over the past 30 years. The last decade, in particular, has seen important advances in our understanding of how these important ecosystems function, their contributions to coastal biogeochemical cycles and their vulnerability to cultural modification of coastal environments. Seagrass Ecology, by Hemminga and Duarte, represents the most complete summary of our current understanding of seagrass biology in 25 years. This volume is unique in that it represents the unified view of the two authors, rather than an edited collection of reviews written by different authors. The result is a well-organized treatise that covers virtually every aspect of seagrass biology from systematics and morphology (Chapters 1 and 2) through populations (Chapter 3), physiology and biogeochemistry (Chapters 4 and 6), faunal communities (Chapter 6) and finally, relations to human culture (Chapter 7).

Zimmerman, R.C. 2001. Review of Seagrass Ecology, by M.A. Hemminga and C.M. Duarte. Oceanography 14(3):95–96, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2001.30.

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