Dr Mvungi, Esther
Country (Nationality)
Tanzania
Grantee Title
Areas of research interest: My research interest is centered in understanding how plants respond to both abiotic and biotic stressors
Grantee Description
Home Institution University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Host Institution University of Cape Town, South Africa
Summary of research
Seagrasses are marine angiosperms that exist fully submersed in water. They provide profound ecological and economical goods and services to marine environment and to the coastal communities. They support diverse marine organisms ranging from invertebrate to vertebrate, they are foods for marine herbivores, helps in nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and also provide fishing ground for human populations along the coast. Regardless of their valuable services, seagrasses survival is threatened by multitude stressors caused by ever increasing human population and hence increased anthropogenic activities along the coastal areas which as well contribute to the
climate change variability seen in present days. Thus in order to understand how multiple stressors affect seagrass ecosystem, this study is set out to investigate how anthropogenic induced ocean acidification, temperature, and nutrient enrichment affect the performance of seagrass Zostera capensis from the west coast of South Africa.