Abstract:Seagrass is a kind of higher angiosperm that originated as a terrestrial plant and over time became adapted to a marine environment. Seagrass beds have important ecological and economical value in that they provide habitats and feeding areas for diverse marine fauna, playing a key role in establishing a flourishing marine ecosystem. From 1993 to 2003, the seagrass acreage lost reached 2.6 × 106 hm2. The first estimated acreages of seagrass beds were recorded in 1879, and based on historical records, it is estimated that more than 5.1 × 106 hm2 of seagrass beds have completely disappeared. With the severe decline of seagrass beds and the public’s recent awareness of their ecological functions, seagrass bed ecological restoration has become one of the more important coastal, environmental engineering projects. Habitat enhancement is the main method utilized in seagrass bed restoration. Currently, seagrass bed restoration is in urgent need of well-organized planning, and large-scale artificial propagations have become vital to current habitat restoration. In order to significantly increase the quantity and efficiency with which seagrass is propagated, this study was to understand the characteristics of seagrass shoot clonal propagation, and determine what techniques would allow efficient plant propagation. In order to achieve highly efficient seagrass shoot propagation, it is necessary to: 1) Promote growth and propagation of key factors; 2) Construct and implement an artificial propagation platform; and 3) Disseminate the growth and propagation planting technique. In this study, the current state of research and knowledge of shoot propagation and planting of seagrasses was reviewed, the environmental factors affecting the growth and development of seagrass shoots was summarized, and the effect of planting space, planting time, and fertilization on the seagrass shoot growth and production was discussed. In addition, the key problems existing at present were summarized. Given the advances in research and public desire to restore damaged ecosystems, there is strong potential for large-scale restoration of damaged seagrass beds along the coast of China in the future, and the summaries provided here will hopefully be a useful reference to these projects.
