FINAL E-BOOK (3) - Flipbook - Page 29
All facts provided by
Marine Conservation Society
Seagrass is the only flowering plant in the ocean.
When seagrass grows in large areas, the habitat it creates is called a seagrass meadow.
Seagrass meadows provides food, shelter and habitats for many species, including seahorses
and the endangered green turtle.
In the UK, we have two seahorse species who call seagrass beds home: the spiny seahorse and the
short-snouted seahorse. The UK's seagrass habitats are also breeding grounds for cuttlefish and sharks, and nurseries for cod, plaice
and pollock.
Seagrass photosynthesises and produces oxygen as well as storing carbon dioxide, which helps us fight climate change.
The UK has lost up to 92% of its seagrass in the last 100 years.
The oldest seagrass meadows are thought to be hundreds of thousands of years old.
Healthy seagrass blades – often up to 1m high – can reduce the power of waves washing away our
sheltered coves and beaches.
Blue carbon is simply carbon absorbed from the water and atmosphere, and stored in the world’s seas and coasts.
The storage of blue carbon can be in plants themselves, like seaweed and seagrass; in the seafloor sediment where plants are
rooted; or even in the animals which live in the water, including seabirds, fish and larger mammals.
It’s thought that seagrass captures carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests.
