In the past few decades, we have learned much about the factors that regulate the productivity of seagrass-dominated ecosystems, especially those at low latitudes. Here, we update our previous assessments of the importance of seagrass-herbivore interactions, focusing on recent studies that have examined (1) the diversity of herbivores feeding on live seagrass leaves; (2) the factors that determine the ability of seagrasses to respond to herbivore damage; (3) how potential chemical deterrents, and structural defenses, in seagrass leaves influence herbivore consumption; (4) how climate-driven changes in herbivore identity might change grazing intensity in temperate seagrasses; (5) the effects of herbivory on pollen, flowers, fruits, and seeds of seagrasses; and (6) the effects of human removal of seagrass megaherbivores and the top-down effects of overfishing top predators on seagrass consumption. We also identify important gaps in our understanding of the broadly defined topic of herbivory in seagrass-dominated ecosystems. Specifically, we suggest that future studies should consider focusing on increasing our understanding of herbivore foraging strategies, quantifying the impact of herbivory on seagrass reproductive biology, including effects on the fates of flowers, fruits, and seeds and documenting the commonness of compensatory responses and chemical defenses to grazing. Studies of the roles of the nutritional content (as measured by C/N/P ratios), in determining herbivore feeding preferences, remain fertile grounds for future studies, as do additional experiments to quantify the relative roles of top-down and bottom-up factors in determining seagrass abundance and energy fluxes in seagrass meadows.

在过去的几十年中，我们了解到很多有关调节以海草为主的生态系统（特别是低纬度地区）的生产力的因素。在这里，我们更新以前对海草与草食动物相互作用重要性的评估，重点是最近的研究，这些研究检查了（1）以活海草叶为食的草食动物的多样性；（2）决定海草对草食动物损害反应能力的因素；（3）海草叶片中潜在的化学威慑剂和结构防御作用如何影响草食动物的消费；（4）气候驱动的草食动物身份的变化如何改变温带海草的放牧强度；（5）草食对海草花粉，花，果实和种子的影响；（6）人类去除海草巨型草食动物的影响以及过度捕捞顶级捕食者对海草消费的自上而下的影响。我们还认识到在理解以海草为主的生态系统中的草食性这一广泛定义的主题方面存在重要差距。具体而言，我们建议未来的研究应考虑集中于加深对草食动物觅食策略的了解，量化草食对海草生殖生物学的影响，包括对花朵，果实和种子命运的影响，并记录补偿性反应和化学物质的共性。防御放牧。关于营养含量（以C / N / P比衡量）在确定草食动物摄食偏好方面的作用的研究仍然是今后研究的沃土，