By adapting and applying existing policies, South Africa can protect and restore its critical ‘blue carbon’ sinks.
Articles on Seagrass
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Environmental DNA like skin cells, blood and faeces can be extracted from water, soil, ice or air to provide a good snapshot of an ecosystem.
As the world’s largest archipelagic state, Indonesia has great potential to earn carbon credits to protect its endangered mangroves and seagrass – which now store around 17% of global “blue carbon”.
Floodwater carries dense clouds of sediment, choking the lush seagrass meadows on which these gentle grazers rely.
Wetlands can help limit the spread of the voracious round goby, an invasive species that has infiltrated the Great Lakes and has become widespread in the St. Lawrence River.
‘Blue carbon’ habitats can store a lot of carbon – but not reliably enough to offset emissions.
Much of the world’s seagrass is highly threatened through human actions such as coastal degradation, as well as impacts of climate change.
A single seagrass plant in Shark Bay is around 4,500 years old, covers 200 square kilometres of seabed, and thrives in harsh conditions.
Work is still needed to collect more data on the carbon capture capacity of the country’s rich coastal ecosystems.
The indirect losses from one heatwave in Western Australia caused A$4.14 billion per year worth of damage.
Seagrass meadows are a powerful ally in the effort to slow climate change and reverse wildlife losses.
Humanity is destroying Earth’s ability to support complex life. But coming to grips with the magnitude of the problem is hard, even for experts.
China’s signature foreign policy is controversial for lots of reasons. But the environmental damage potentially wrought by the project has received scant attention.
Healthy seagrasses form underwater meadows teeming with fish and shellfish. A successful large-scale restoration project in Virginia could become a model for reseeding damaged seagrass beds worldwide.
Marine wildlife rarely remain in one habitat. Most species rely on a healthy network of ecosystems to raise their young and catch their food.
Between 1986 and 2016, Kenya lost about 21 of its seagrasses.
Although less well known than its cousins, coral reefs and mangroves, seagrass plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation.
Spiny lobsters with deadly PaV1 virus are found in seagrass habitats more than any other - but the seagrass may actually be helping to combat the disease.
In a world-first, scientists have counted the greenhouse gas absorbed and emitted by Australia’s mangroves, seagrass and other ocean ecosystems.
Seagrass may look unassuming, but healthy oceans depend on the huge meadows that grow in temperate and tropical waters.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor in Marine Biology, Swansea University
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Chief Conservation Officer, Project Seagrass & Research Affiliate, Swansea University
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Research Fellow, Cardiff University
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Distinguished Professor of Marine Science, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
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Professor of Marine Science & Founder/Director of Blue Carbon Lab, Deakin University
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Principal Researcher, Coastal Ecology, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC)
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Lecturer in coastal environmental sciences and sustainable development, Uppsala University
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Gary Kendrick is a Friend of The Conversation.
Winthrop Professor, Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia
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PhD Candidate, Marine Ecology, University of Edinburgh
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Associate Professor in Biology, Flinders University
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Professor of Marine Ecology, Edith Cowan University
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Research Fellow in Marine Ecology, Marine Biological Association
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Assistant Professor of aquatic ecology, Utah State University
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Principal Researcher, James Cook University
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Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia