This proposal requests funds to permit Dr. Ronald C. Phillips, Professor of Biology, Seattle Pacific University, to pursue with Dr. Hilconida P. Calumpong, Director, and Ms. Janet Estacion, Marine Laboratory, Silliman University, Republic of the Philippines, for a period of 24 months, a program of cooperative research to assess the adaptive tolerances, growth rates, morphometric responses, and transplant success of 5 species of Philippine seagrasses in a variety of nearshore coastal environments. Reciprocal and common garden transplants of seagrasses across gradients of water depth, water salinity, substrate textures, and seagrass species compositions will be conducted. Monitoring of these experiments to determine areal extent of the initial planting unit, changes in leaf width, mean number of leaves/shoots, leaf area index, reproductive phenology, and chlorophyll content will be conducted monthly for two years. In addition, laboratory experiments will be conducted on all 5 species of seagrasses to assess ranges of heat and cold tolerances from donor sites, as well as from control, common, and reciprocal transplant gardens. Data from these experiments should allow the researchers to predict the effects of human activity and natural phenomena on Philippine seagrasses and to initiate effective mitigation along coastlines that have become adversely impacted. Seagrass communities in the Philippines serve as habitats and breeding grounds for various marine organisms that are economically important to the local people. About 60% of the Filipinos' protein intake consists of fish and shellfish, much of which comes from seagrass meadows. Continuing increased activity (dredging, untreated sewage, industrial waste disposal, etc.) in the shallow coastal environment has impaired, reduced, and even decimated large portions of locally established seagrass stocks. Hopefully, the present project will contribute to a program of marine conservation and coastal management in the Philippines and reduce that country's dependence on foreign assistance. The collaborators are highly respected scientists in the field of this research. They will be assisted by Dr. Ernani G. Menez, Smithsonian Institution, who will serve as consultant. The present project will allow these scientists to combine their talents and interests for mutual benefit. This project is relevant to the objectives of the Science in Developing Countries Program which seeks to increase the level of cooperation between U.S. scientists and engineers and their counterparts in developing countries through the exchange of scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit.
