NEWS

NEWS

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.

Interning with Project Seagrass

My name is Lowri O’Neill, a 20 year-old marine biology student studying at Swansea University. Ever since I can remember, I have always been obsessed with the ocean. As a toddler, I would watch Finding Nemo constantly all day, every day and would kick up a fuss if my parents

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Seagrass Nursery News – Vol. 3

By Elise Simone de Tourtoulon-Adams   A huge thank you to all of our supporters who helped us successfully raise more than £9,000 in the Aviva Community Fund to go towards developing this nursery.

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Seagrass Nursery News – Vol 2

By Elise Simone de Tourtoulon-AdamsIf you would like to donate to support the nursery please head to: https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/seagrass-nursery. Every donation helps and Aviva are currently matching your donation up to £50!

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What is blue carbon?

By Jenny Black The Carbon Cycle It is likely that we have all heard of carbon but what might not be known is the fundamental role it plays in our ecosystems. Carbon will naturally move between the atmosphere and the earth’s surface through interactions between organisms and ecosystems in a

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Biodiversity is essential to planetary health

A few weeks ago part one of the UN Biodiversity Conference (aka COP15) took place in Kunming, China. Whilst all eyes are on the UN Climate Conference set to take place in Glasgow, UK next week, we must not forget the vital role that biodiversity plays in our planets health.

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Seagrass Nursery News – Vol 1

Project Seagrass are embarking on a journey to build a seagrass nursery. This is no small feat and so we have enlisted the help of our new seagrass aquarist, Elise. Elise will be bringing you honest updates each month on how this journey is progressing. This is the start of

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Ambition really is still critical for seagrass

Eight years ago sat on a roof top café at Swansea University we ambitiously set up a small marine conservation organisation called Project Seagrass. Swansea has always seemed a fitting place for Project Seagrass to start. After all it was deemed the ‘lovely ugly town’ by its most famous son,

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An East African Marine Safari

By Sam Freeman In the summer of 2018, after finishing my penultimate year of my undergrad Marine & Freshwater Biology degree, I travelled to Watamu. Watamu is a small but beautiful coastal town just north of Mombasa, in Kenya – East Africa. Watamu is famous for its picturesque sandy-white beaches

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2020 : A Year In Review

As 2020 draws to a close, we look back on a year that has been nothing short of unusual. Despite the challenges, it has been a year for reflection, growth and innovation, and we believe there’s never been more reason to work toward a brighter future. In the face of

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A Life On Our Planet

“I’ve had an extraordinary life. It’s only now that I appreciate how extraordinary. As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world – but it was an illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us, barely noticeable

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A pair of dark bellied Brent Geese fly through the sky. The sky is grey
biodiversity

The Brent Goose: Creatures that call seagrass home

In a new blog series, our Conservation Trainee Abi David explores some of the amazing creatures that call seagrass meadows their home. The Brent Goose Branta bernicla is of a similar size to a Mallard duck, making it one of the smallest goose species in the world. They are a

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A map of the world showing where seagrass has been spotted using SeagrassSpotter
coastal systems

Harnessing open data to understand coastal social-ecological systems

Our oceans and coasts are home to ecosystems that provide immense benefits to people, from food and livelihoods to carbon storage and coastal protection. In particular, seagrass meadows are archetypal social-ecological systems (SES), linking human well-being to ecosystem health. But to manage these systems effectively, we need access to both ecological

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Zostera marina seagrass meadow. Credit Ben Jones
Chesapeake Bay

Seagrass swap could reshape Chesapeake Bay food web

Beneath the surface of the Chesapeake Bay, a subtle but dramatic shift is taking place as eelgrass gives way to its warmer-water relative, widgeon grass. A new study from researchers at William & Mary’s Batten School & VIMS shows that this seagrass swap could have ecological impacts across the Bay’s

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SeagrassSpotter Nanozostera japonica
genetics

Researchers uncover hidden seagrass species in northwest Pacific

Seagrasses, foundational species in coastal ecosystems worldwide, are surprisingly few in documented diversity—with only about 70 species identified globally, despite their widespread distribution and ecological importance. Complicating matters, their high phenotypic plasticity within species makes precise classification challenging. Against this backdrop, a research team led by Prof. Zhou Yi from

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Volunteers crouch in the seagrass meadow at Porthdinllaen collecting seagrass seeds
North Wales

Fieldwork notes from our summer seagrass seed collections

The Project Seagrass team have had another busy summer of seagrass seed collections!  This year collections took place in Yarmouth, Ryde, and Bembridge on the Isle of Wight in the Solent, and in Porthdinllaen in North Wales. Find out more about how this summer’s collections went:  Solent Seed Collection |

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