Translating seagrass science into action Siti Maryam Yaakub A,E , Nicole Foster B , Michelle Waycott B,C and Peter Todd D A DHI Water & Environment (S) Pte Ltd, 2 Venture Drive, #18–18, Vision Exchange, Singapore 608526, Republic of Singapore. B School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. C State Herbarium of South Australia, Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, Department for Environment and Water (DEW), Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. D Experimental Marine Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Block S3, Level 2, Singapore 117543, Republic of Singapore. E Corresponding author. Email: smj@dhigroup.com Seagrasses are flowering plants that live in coastal waters and comprise 72 species distributed worldwide (Duffy et al. 2019). They support a wide range of biological resources and ecosys- tem services but are also under tremendous threat. Seagrass meadows absorb nutrients, support foodwebs, are effective carbon sinks, and provide nursery habitats and breeding grounds for many other species (Barbier et al. 2011). They are eco- nomically valuable thanks to their contribution to fisheries and tourism, as well as their ability to reduce coastal erosion through binding sediments, trapping particulate matter, and attenuating wave energy (Ruiz-Frau et al. 2017). It is of great concern then that seagrass meadows are being lost worldwide due to local and global stressors, despite the clear need to conserve these com- munities (Orth et al. 2006; Waycott et al. 2009). Sediment and nutrient run-off are particularly pressing issues, leading to low light availability, smothering of seagrasses, and the creation of algal blooms (Orth et al. 2006; Yaakub et al. 2014a). Physical destruction of seagrass beds will increase as land is reclaimed, harbours are developed, fishing pressure intensifies, and aqua- culture expands (Quiros et al. 2017). These stressors are expected to worsen in line with the growing number of people living on or near the coast around the world (Yaakub et al. 2014b). As the temperature of the oceans increases globally, the incidence of disease in seagrasses is also likely to rise (Duffy et al. 2019). Unfortunately, pressures on seagrass communities are often overlooked in media reporting and scientific publications in favour of other coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs (Unsworth et al. 2019), an oversight that exacerbates the risks to seagrass meadows and highlights a need to improve education and awareness. As part of the ongoing effort to generate public interest and enhance knowledge exchange, the 13th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW13) and World Seagrass Conference 2018 (WSC) was held from 11 to 17 June 2018 in Singapore. A flagship event of the World Seagrass Association, ISBW13 and WSC were jointly organised and supported by the National University of Singapore, DHI Water & Environment, and the National Parks Board of Singapore. The theme of the event was ‘Translating Science into Action’, motivated by the ever- important need for effective communication of seagrass science amongst scientists, managers, and practitioners, to better develop and implement science-based seagrass conservation and restora- tion policies. The event was attended by 201 participants, the highest in the event’s history, with 72 poster presentations and 118 oral presentations in the WSC component. During ISBW, there was a strong focus on training and knowledge sharing, with workshops on new technologies such as using drones for habitat mapping and the application of virtual reality, as well as discus- sions on key issues such as ecosystem resilience and new practices in habitat restoration and pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry. The aim was for practitioners to be able to harness collective knowledge and skills for advancing seagrass science and management. This ‘Translating Seagrass Science into Action’ research front arose from ISBW13 and we sought manuscripts from conference participants that emphasise the applicability of scientific research to management practices and policies for the conservation of seagrass meadows, from the local to global scale. All eight papers presented here examine the impacts of human activities or have a conservation perspective. Following strong regional representation at ISBW13, research and researchers from the tropics and South-east Asia are well represented, with many welcome contributions from students. The papers can be grouped into four thematic pairs, covering a range of critical topics. In the first two papers, Rahman and Yaakub (2020) and Chuan et al. (2020) assess some of the ecosystem services provided by seagrass meadows. Rahman and Yaakub engage with the challenging task of determining both the ecosystem- service and socio-economic value of seagrass meadows at CSIRO PUBLISHING Marine and Freshwater Research, 2020, 71, i–iii https://doi.org/10.1071/MFv71n8_ED Journal compilation Ó CSIRO 2020 www.publish.csiro.au/journals/mfr Editorial RESEARCH FRONT