ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Conserv. Sci.
Sec. Plant Conservation
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcosc.2025.1646399
This article is part of the Research TopicGlobal Conservation of Vulnerable, Threatened and Endangered SeagrassView all 3 articles
Seagrass Assisted Recovery and Long-Term Monitoring in the Sungai Pulai Estuary, Johor, Malaysia
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Putra Malaysia University, Serdang, Malaysia
- 2Universiti Putra Malaysia Institut Antarabangsa Akuakultur dan Sains Akuatik, Port Dickson, Malaysia
- 3Universiti Putra Malaysia - Kampus Bintulu Sarawak, Bintulu, Malaysia
- 4No. 8 Jalan Sri Hartamas 18, Taman Sri Hartamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Seagrass ecosystems in Malaysia are increasingly threatened by coastal development, resulting in widespread habitat degradation. A decade-long monitoring program in the Sungai Pulai estuary (2015-2025) documented trends in species composition, water quality, and habitat recovery following reclamation activities. Thirteen seagrass species were recorded, indicating high diversity compared to the seventeen known in Malaysian waters. Four species, i.e., Halophila decipiens, H. major, H. beccarii, and H. nipponica, were newly documented, with H. nipponica as a new national record for Malaysia. Seagrass percentage cover showed a moderate negative correlation with conductivity (r = -0.622, p < 0.05) in Merambong A (MA), as well as conductivity (r = -0.594), total dissolved solids (r = -0.500), and salinity (r = -0.519) in Merambong C (MC). It also showed a moderate negative correlation with DO (r = -0.545) and salinity (r = -0.502) in Tanjung Adang Laut (TAL). In response to habitat degradation, a rehabilitation program was carried out at the Merambong shoal using Enhalus acoroides seedlings as stabilizer species, along with cover species such as H. ovalis, H. major, and H. spinulosa. A total of 8,591 seedlings were transplanted across 324-square-meter plots, achieving survival rates of 63.39% at MA and 66.07% at Merambong B (MB), surpassing the success of direct seeding and vegetative transplant methods. Cover studies showed that MB consistently had more E. acoroides coverage during the early (10-30 months) and late (30-60 months) stages, peaking at 86.08% in certain plots. The inclusion of mixed species improved sediment stabilization and facilitated rapid vegetative recovery. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of seedling-based rehabilitation strategies, emphasize the importance of species complementarity, and highlight the need for ongoing monitoring to protect tropical seagrass habitats from human pressures.
Keywords: seagrass rehabilitation1, transplanting2, coastal development3, long-term monitoring4, seagrass recovery5, Sungai Pulai estuary6
Received: 13 Jun 2025; Accepted: 08 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zakaria, Syed, Ramaiya and Bujang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Muta Harah Zakaria, muta@upm.edu.my
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