Seagrass meadows provide valuable socio-ecological ecosystem services, including a key role in climate change mitigation and adaption. Understanding the natural history of seagrass meadows across environmental gradients is crucial to decipher the role of seagrasses worldwide. This database comprises of data compiled from peer-previewed publications (1975-2020; based on a Web of Science search) containing 11 individual measures of seagrass meadow structure (e.g. percent cover), biomass (e.g. above-ground biomass) and productivity (e.g. shoot production). Each row of data also includes biological, spatial and temporally relevant information such as bioregion, latitude, longitude, sampling year and genera. This compiled database will facilitate a deeper understanding of spatial and temporal patterns in seagrass meadow structure, biomass and production characteristics globally.

GBIF url: https://www.gbif.org/dataset/3695138b-11db-41de-a107-c1529e84b825
Homepage: https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.929968
Citation: Strydom S, Webster C L, McCallum R, Lafratta A, O'Dea C M, Said N E, Inostroza K, Salinas C, Billinghurst S, Phelps C M, Campbell C, Gorham C, Dunham N, Bernasconi R, Frouws A M, Werner A, Vitelli F, Puigcorbé V, D'Cruz A, McMahon K M, Robinson J, Huggett M J, McNamara S, Hyndes G A, Serrano Ó, Wittmann A C (2025). Global database of key seagrass structure, biomass and production variables - Darwin Core Archive. Flanders Marine Institute. Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.929968 accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-02-12.