Seagrass Meadows are Disappearing Worldwide

The most common species are in decline, both in terms of area covered and the diversity of species.

Seagrasses are plants that grow in the ocean and marine habitats are important.

They create huge underwater meadows and flowering plants evolved from land that remained under water millions of years ago.

These habitats serve as nurseries for young fish and shellfish, and are the main food source for marine mammals such as manatees and dugongs, as well as reptiles like sea turtles.

They also help keep other ecosystems such as coral reefs, mangroves, wetlands, marine and marine barriers formed by oysters.

It has long been known that seagrasses were in decline in many parts of the world, but this is the first time you perform an investigation that covers different parts of the world.

Professor Frederick Short, an expert from the University of Hampshire, in Durham, U.S. led an international team that compiled all the case studies on seagrass beds at specific points in the world.

On that basis, the team assessed the risks of individual species and the results were published in the journal Conservation Biology (Biological Conservation).

Professor Short told the BBC that one of the reasons for the decline of these ecosystems is environmental pollution.

“For example, seagrass beds have disappeared from more developed coastal areas due to urban pollution,” he said.

In developing countries, this decline is due to sedimentation as a result of deforestation and human waste and agricultural plantations, which will stop the sea.

Frederick Short said: “I was surprised to see how many grassland species are threatened and to discover that diversity is being lost at a higher level than I thought.”

According to the researchers, there is a loss of coverage of these fields and a decrease in diversity.

The team found that the 72 species found, 15 should be considered as endangered, vulnerable or about to be threatened, according to the Red List criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN for its acronym in English .)

Ten of them face a significant risk of extinction.

For example, Phyllospadix japonicus is an important ecosystem in the cliffs of the coast of China, the Korean peninsula and Japan, but has disappeared in large parts of the coast of China due to the cultivation of algae for consumption.

Zostera Chilensis is common in two specific areas of the Chilean coast and seems to have disappeared from one of them.

Of the 57 remaining species, there is less concern about 48 of them, and there are insufficient data to assess the risk of others.

“Many common species of grasslands that are everywhere and are not in danger, are in decline anyway, so we have a loss of habitat and a decrease in diversity,” said Professor Short.

“The meadows are therefore an important part of the diet of many species they are also broken down into nutrients for a wide range of organisms in the coastlands.”

The problem, according to Professor Short, is not very visible as the impact is not seen much.

“Unfortunately, as they are submerged in the ocean just see it, except swimmers and divers,” he said.