A Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences researcher has been awarded a prestigious US grant for studies into seagrass.

Graduate intern Kim Holzer is to receive funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) as she investigates the impact which overgrazing and human consumption may be having on aquatic plant life.

The grant has been awarded under the US EPA's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) programme, which is currently focusing on water quality, ecosystem assessment and restoration, plus global change among its topics.

STAR has been awarding Graduate Fellowships to Masters and Doctoral level students in environmental fields since 1995. Up to $5.9 million in funding is distributed through 65 fellowships each year, helping to provide a steady stream of specialists to meet society's environmental challenges.

Dr. Anthony Knap, BIOS President and Director, commented: "It is particularly encouraging to see BIOS scientists receiving such prestigious awards in such a competitive funding environment."

Ms Holzer's research will focus on the grazing intensity on seagrass around the Island. She will also examine the interactive effects of herbivory and nutrient pollution on seagrass meadows.

Her work is important because scientists see overgrazing as a possible cause for the decline in Bermuda's seagrass by up to 50 percent in the last decade. Acceleration in global coastal nutrient loads as a result of human consumption is also of concern.

Ms Holzer, 29, of Virginia, said: "Unravelling the role of consumers in nutrient-perturbed seagrass ecosystems has both theoretical and applied value. Seagrass communities are declining worldwide, and much of this habitat deterioration is believed to be related to human activities which are altering the coastal zone at an accelerated rate through eutrophication and species exploitation (overfishing)."

She said the Island was ideal for studying how herbivores and nutrient pollution regulate in seagrass systems because herbivory on seagrass beds by turtles and fish are high here compared with the rest of the world.

Government is also in the process of placing seagrasses on the protected species list.

Ms Holzer arrived in Bermuda to attend BIOS's Coral Reef Ecology (CRE) course in 2003 and to get hands-on experience studying the marine environment. She began her seagrass studies two years ago, funded by BIOS's Marine Environment Program, and has mentored many young Bermudians in studying seagrass under BIOS's Bermuda Programme. Ms Holzer is studying for her PhD from University of Virginia.