Development of a framework for a functional-structural seagrass transplantation simulation using GAMA platform

Abstract

A massive decrease in seagrass coverage in the Philippines has been observed in the past several years due to coastal eutrophication and typhoons. It is key to observe the changes and probable damage in seagrass habitat and develop a way to scientifically back up recovery strategies such as transplantation to increase the probability of rehabilitation success. This study describes the framework development of a transplantation scenario evaluation tool that performs Thalassia hemprichii growth simulation within an uproot site in Palawan as a case study. The growth parameters used include shoot leaf area, spacer length, plastochrone interval, and life expectancy, and horizontal apex density. Base scenario and three scenarios with varying combinations of transplantation density and distribution were applied to the three 4 x 4 grid plots with 24 x 24 cm cell size from classified drone imagery. Results show that transplantation distribution has a greater weight than density with respect to the percent cover responses. Based on the mean and standard deviation of percent cover responses, scenario 1 having 4 transplants with 24 cm intervals is the most suitable for plots 1 and 2, while scenario 2 having 8 transplants (2 per cell) with 24 cm intervals for plot 3.