Seagrass colonization: patch formation and patch growth in Cymodocea nodosa

Thls study demonstrates that patch development in a Mediterranean con~munity of Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Ascherson, growing over highly mobile sandy sediments, proceeds by colonization by seedlings (0.047 m-' yr-'), and subsequent patch development by the surviving seedlings (< 10 %).Increased patch cover is obtalned by fast growlng rhizomes (average elongat~on = 1.6 m yr-'), and coalescence of neighbour patches.Honzontal patch growth varied substantially among patches due to enhanced patch elongat~on with Increasing patch slze, whereas growth vanance withln patches was attributable to interannual d~fferences consistent among d~fferent patches.Comparisons of the measured patch spread rates with those for other seagrasses specles show substantial variability (> 2 orders of m a g n ~t u d e ) in horizontal growth rates that ~m p l ~e s broad d~fferences in the potent~al for recovery among seagrass species