Since Susan Williams and I started our scientific careers in the mid-1970s, seagrass science has been transformed from a largely descriptive field to an increasingly quantitative and predictive endeavor that requires a mechanistic understanding of environmental influence on metabolic networks that control energy assimilation, growth, and reproduction. Although the potential impacts of environment on gene products are myriad, important phenotypic responses are often regulated by a few key points in metabolic networks where externally supplied resources or physiological substrates limit reaction kinetics. Environmental resources commonly limiting seagrass productivity, survival, and growth include light, temperature, and CO₂ availability that control carbon assimilation and sucrose formation, and regulate stress responses to environmental change. Here I present a systems approach to quantify the responses of seagrasses to shifts in environmental factors that control fundamental physiological processes and whole plant performance in the context of a changing climate. This review shows that our ability to understand the past and predict the future trajectory of seagrass-based ecosystems can benefit from a mechanistic understanding of the responses of these remarkable plants to the simultaneous impacts of ocean acidification, climate warming, and eutrophication that are altering ecosystem function across the globe.

自从我和苏珊·威廉姆斯（Susan Williams）在1970年代中期开始我们的科学事业以来，海草科学已经从一个主要的描述性领域转变为越来越多的定量和预测性工作，要求对对控制能量吸收，生长，和繁殖。尽管环境对基因产物的潜在影响无数，但重要的表型反应通常受代谢网络中的几个关键点所控制，在这些关键点上，外部供应的资源或生理底物限制了反应动力学。通常限制海草生产力，生存和生长的环境资源包括光，温度和CO ₂控制碳同化和蔗糖形成并调节对环境变化的压力响应的可用性。在这里，我提出了一种系统方法，用于量化海草对环境因素变化的响应，这些环境因素在气候变化的背景下控制着基本的生理过程和整个植物的生长。这项审查表明，我们对海草生态系统的过去了解并预测其未来轨迹的能力可以从对这些杰出植物对海洋酸化，气候变暖和富营养化同时影响生态系统变化的同时响应的机械理解中受益在全球范围内发挥作用。