Wake length of an artificial seagrass meadow: a study of shelter and its feasibility for restoration

Abstract

Seagrasses are essential marine ecosystems for which restoration has proven challenging due to increased hydrodynamic stress. This study aims to analyze the flow alteration induced by an artificial seagrass (ASG) meadow by characterizing its wake effect through a shelter distance and thus yield guidance for seagrass restoration projects. Here, we define shelter distance as the longitudinal extent behind a meadow, with respect to the flow direction, where seagrass is protected and can hence grow successfully. Flume experiments were conducted for submerged meadows with three different lengths at constant canopy height, shoot density and water depth, and three different cross-section-averaged longitudinal flow velocities measured with state-of-the-art Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). For the tested meadow morphology and hydrodynamic conditions, meadow length played a less important role regarding shelter distance, while incident flow velocity and effective canopy height governed the wake effect. Incident velocities <30 cm s⁻¹ prompted shelter distances >2 m behind the meadow, whereas higher velocities led to a reduced shelter distance ranging from 20-40 cm. ASG additionally produced an upwelling effect on the vertical distribution of the velocity profile observed along the wake, regardless of meadow length and incident velocity. Our results suggest that restoration projects should aim for areas of low flow, where currents induced by tidal or wind waves are less pronounced in order to activate larger shelter distances.

Keywords:

• Shelter distance
• wake structure
• flow-vegetation interaction
• seagrass
• ecosystem restoration

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose comments significantly improved this manuscript. Likewise, we thank Mareike Taphorn for her help during the preparation phase of the experiments and Luise Hentze for her set up of the PIV system and preliminary study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was part of the collaborative project “SeaArt - Long term establishment of SEAgrass ecosystems through biodegradable ARTificial meadows," funded by Niedersächsisches Vorab and MWK – Federal state of Lower Saxony (Grant No. ZN3187).