Keeping you up to date with Project Seagrass news and views with a mixture of field notes and commentary on seagrass and marine conservation topics.
Discussions of valuable but threatened ocean ecosystems often focus on coral reefs or coastal mangrove forests. Seagrass meadows get a lot less attention, even though they provide wide-ranging services to society and store lots of climate-warming carbon. But the findings of a new University of Michigan-led study show that seagrass
Mangroves are growing in areas historically dominated by salt marshes and oyster reefs. Invasive pacific oysters are replacing native blue mussels in the Wadden Sea. Macroalgae are exhibiting dominance over hard corals in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific. Climate change-driven shifts in dominant, habitat-forming species such as these can have significant
Seagrass, a group of aquatic angiosperms, grows in shallow waters in the coastal sea and contributes most of the primary production while participating in many important ecological processes. Heat stress threatens the survival of seagrass, but its damage mechanisms are unclear. Recently, a research team led by Prof. Liu Jianguo
A study of eelgrass meadows planted by researchers from the University of Gothenburg shows that fauna return rapidly once the eelgrass has started to grow. Already after the second summer, the biodiversity in the planted meadow was almost the same as in old established eelgrass meadows. Eelgrass meadows have declined
In Florida alone, thousands of acres of marine seagrass beds have died. Major seagrass die-offs also are occurring around the world. Stressors such as high temperature, hypersalinity and hypoxia or lack of oxygen affect seagrasses’ ability to resist and recover from these stressor-related mortality events or when disturbances lead to
By Emily Yates To donate to our Aviva Community Funds and find out more, click the links below: Making marine conservation more accessible Saving the worlds seagrass Developing the Project Seagrass nursery
Storm Garry March 1st marked an important date in seagrass history as globally we celebrated the very first World Seagrass Day, formally recognised by the United Nations! This day will continue to annually raise awareness of the importance of healthy seagrass meadows. Seagrass is the only marine flowering plant in
Eva Rothausler On a narrow stretch along the northern-central coast of Chile, the seagrass Heterozostera nigricaulis (syn. Zostera nigricaulis, Heterozostera tasmanica) occurs in three isolated patches no more than 300 km apart. It is a common intertidal to subtidal seagrass in the Zosteracea family and is found growing in protected
In a new blog series, our Conservation Trainee Abi David explores some of the amazing creatures that call seagrass meadows their home. Sea hares are odd looking creatures. They are mostly soft bodied but have a small internal shell, which separates them from their close relatives – sea slugs. The
Scientists warn that the future of our oceans and climate goals depends on reconnecting the ecological threads that hold coastal habitats together. A new study, launched at the International Seascape Symposium II at ZSL (Zoological Society of London), and published to align with UN Ocean Decade Conference represents two years
In a new blog series, our Conservation Trainee Abi David explores some of the amazing creatures that call seagrass meadows their home. Cuttlefish are molluscs and join squid and octopuses in the Cephalopod family. Predominantly found in temperate and tropical areas, 120 species can be found around the world. Cuttlefish
In this article, Project Seagrass CEO Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth reflects on the United Nations Ocean Conference: The 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference, co-organized by Costa Rica and France was held in the coastal city of Nice, France from 9 to 13 June. Over 15,000 people participated, including 2,000 scientists and
The BBNJ (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction) Treaty is critical for protecting and enhancing seagrass. Most of the world’s seagrass is within national jurisdictions; however, in some locations, such as the Saya De Malha Bank in the Indian Ocean, seagrass is located beyond any national jurisdiction. This means it’s not legally
The seagrass is greener along Florida’s Nature Coast … figuratively, that is. A new study published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series shows that seagrass ecosystems along the northern half of Florida’s Gulf Coast have remained relatively healthy and undisturbed for the last several thousand years. This is not the case for most
