and trends of seagrass habitat, and have clearly indicated that
seagrasses are declining globally (Green and Short, 2003; Orth et
al., 2006; Waycott et al., 2009). A synthesis of 215 published studies
showed that seagrass habitat disappeared worldwide at a rate
of 110 km2 per year between 1980 and 2006 (Waycott et al.,
2009). However, the actual status of individual seagrass species
themselves has received little attention. For the first time, the likelihood
of extinction of the world’s 72 species of seagrass has been
determined under the Categories and Criteria of the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened
Species.