FLOWERING DISTRIBUTION AND FRUITING SUCCESS OF SYRINGODIUM ISOETIFOLIUM (CYMODOCEACEAE) IN BOGTONG BAY, LAHUY ISLAND, CARAMOAN, PHILIPPINES

Quantification of flowering and fruiting success is essential in understanding dispersal and recruitment characteristics of different seagrass species. In this study, the variation in the spatial extent of flowering and fruiting of a sub tidal seagrass population in a small bay was described. A total of 72 core samples were collected within the mixed-seagrass area in the Bogtong Bay, Lahuy Island, Caramoan, Philippines, in order to distribution of flowering and fruiting of the most abundant seagrass species in the bay, Syringodium isoetifolium. In three water depth categories (e.g., shallow, ? deep depths, and deep), the intensity and allotment of flowering and fruiting were determined by examining 780 shoots of S. isoetifolium. Results revealed that the variation in abundance of sexual structures that contain the seeds (i.e., flowers and fruits) at various depths. Although, the relationship between abundance of such structures is independent with water depth, the differences in the proportion of sexual structures of S. isoetifolium was consistently significant between sampling stations and water depth categories. S. isoetifolium in the middle (i.e., ? deep water depth category) part of the seagrass bed are more successful in flowering and fruiting than in the near shore or offshore portions. Only 10 % of the shoots of S. isoetifolium are flowering. And the smaller proportion of fruits (i.e., 1.8 % to 18.8 %) compared with flowers (24.2 % to 29.74 %) reflects the numerous abortion of fruits or difficult fruiting dynamics of S. isoetifolium. There are more female flowers (89.5 %) than male flowers (10.5 %) of S. isoetifolium in Bogtong Bay; hence there are about 9 female flowers for every one male flower. Therefore, the reproductive effort and success of S. isoetifolium exhibit spatial heterogeneity and that the colonization and that their recovery depends more on rhizome growth than on sexual reproduction.