Seagrass: Unveiling its Significance as a Silent Climate Ally
The Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, has published a compelling story on the success stories of seagrass conservation. This article highlights the crucial role seagrass meadows play in slowing down water flow, allowing organic matter to settle and accumulate on the ocean floor, burying organic carbon in the seabed.
Seagrass, a type of flowering plant found in shallow coastal waters around every continent except Antarctica, is indeed a powerful carbon sink. Despite covering only 2% of the ocean floor, they store nearly half of the carbon buried in ocean sediments.
Seagrass beds consist of dense meadows that include living biomass and extensive sediment layers where most organic carbon accumulates. The majority of carbon storage (over 94%) occurs in sediments beneath seagrass meadows, while live biomass contributes minimally.
The story covers various rehabilitation methods, community-led restoration efforts, and successful transplant trials in locations such as Cape Town, South Africa, Whangarei Harbour, New Zealand, Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar in India, and beyond. Transplant trials in Cape Town resulted in a 400% increase of seagrass in some areas, with the return of invertebrates including the false-eelgrass limpet, South Africa's most endangered marine invertebrate. Transplants have restored 40% of former seagrass areas in Whangarei Harbour, New Zealand, through planting and improving water quality.
Community members in India use bamboo frames and coconut ropes for eco-friendly, low-cost seagrass transplantation. The restoration of damaged seagrass meadows can be labor-intensive and expensive, according to Frontiers.
Seagrass ecosystems are among the most intensive carbon sinks in the biosphere, particularly due to their capacity to store carbon long-term in sediments. Compared to terrestrial forests, blue carbon ecosystems including seagrasses store more carbon per hectare in their soils and sediments, despite forests holding more carbon in living biomass.
However, seagrass meadows are vulnerable to climate change impacts, including increasing sea temperatures, ocean acidification, sea-level rise, and reduced water quality. Environmental stressors such as changes in sediment salinity, turbidity, and nutrient loads influence seagrass health and thus their carbon sequestration capacity. Degradation or disturbance caused by climate-induced stress and human activities can reduce their biomass and sediment carbon stocks, undermining their role as carbon sinks.
Protecting seagrasses is crucial. If the world's seagrass is not protected, it could release 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of 100 million US homes. Warming sea temperatures impact the ability of seagrass to absorb carbon, causing widespread die-offs in some areas, but some studies have shown that seagrasses are more resilient than previously thought.
The story is tagged with keywords like ecosystem services, forests, conservation, climate, extreme weather, global warming, and heatwaves. It is related to topics like Carbon & Climate, Water, and Biodiversity, and covers regions such as Australia, Global, India, and Malaysia. The story can be found at https://www.context.news/.
This article underscores the importance of seagrasses in the fight against climate change and emphasizes the need for their protection and restoration. The story aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6 (Water), 11 (Cities), 13 (Climate), 14 (Oceans), 15 (Biodiversity), 16 (Peace), and 17 (Partnerships).
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