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Seagrasses are a paraphyletic group of marine angiosperms which evolved in parallel three to four times from land plants back to the sea. The following characteristics can be used to define a seagrass species. It lives in an estuarine or in the marine environment, and nowhere else. The pollination takes place underwater with specialized pollen.
Learn about seagrasses, flowering plants that grow in shallow salty and brackish waters around the world. Discover how seagrasses are different from seaweeds, where they are found, how they grow and reproduce, and why they are important for the ocean and people.
- What Is Seagrass?
- Is Seagrass The Same Thing as Seaweed?
- Where Is Seagrass Found?
- Why Is Seagrass Important?
- How Does Seagrass Help Fight Climate Change?
- Are Seagrasses Under Threat?
- Onto Bluer Pastures: The Importance of Raising Awareness About Seagrass
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Despite its name, seagrass isn’t actually a true grass — in fact, seagrasses’ closest terrestrial relatives are lilies and orchids. Most species of seagrass superficially resemble terrestrial grasses, in that they sometimes have long, narrow leaves and grow in meadows. However, seagrasses can have several different leaf shapes — including oval, fer...
Seagrass is oftentimes confused with seaweed, but there are many important differences between the two. Evolutionarily, seaweed is a relatively primitive group of marine photosynthetic organisms, whereas seagrasses are flowering plants that evolvedfrom life in the ocean, to the land, and back to the sea about 100 million years ago. This land-to-sea...
Seagrasses grow mainly in shallow marine and brackish waters around the world, occupying tropical, temperate and even Arctic areas. They’ve evolved to thrive where few other plants could survive. Seagrasses are found in 159 countries across six continents, but their total extent is poorly mapped. While the most up-to-date global seagrass area is es...
Seagrasses are important because they contribute to human health and well-being in myriad ways. For example, seagrasses provide:
Just like forests on land, seagrasses are excellent at absorbing and storing carbon, which can help reduce the impacts of climate change. Globally, seagrasses store 19.9 billion tons of organic carbon, as much as is stored in the world’s marine tidal marshes and mangrove forests combined, the two other main parts of blue carbon ecosystems. However,...
Despite their value, seagrasses have been declining globally since the 1930s and are currently disappearing at a rate of 7% per year — faster than any other coastal ecosystem, such as mangroves (1-3% per year) or salt marshes (1-2% per year). Between 1970 and 2000, their extent decreased by more than 10% per decade. Of the world’s 72 known seagrass...
Despite a general global trend of seagrass loss, there is reason for hope. Some areas have successfully stemmed the decline or even rehabilitated seagrasses. Many solutions exist — management measures that regulate nutrient loads and improve water quality, limiting destructive fishing gear and practices, installing seagrass-friendly mooring, and in...
Seagrasses are flowering plants that grow in shallow marine and brackish waters, providing food, biodiversity, clean water and coastal protection. Learn what seagrasses are, where they are found, why they are important and how they are threatened by human activities.
Seagrasses are valuable and biodiverse habitats that support fisheries, carbon capture, nitrogen removal and coastal management. Learn about the threats to seagrass and how to protect and restore them with the Ocean Conservation Trust.
Seagrasses are underwater plants that evolved from land plants. They are like terrestrial plants in that they have leaves, flowers, seeds, roots, and connective tissues, and they make their food through photosynthesis.
Seagrass are flowering plants that live underwater and provide habitat, food and nutrient cycling for marine life. Learn about their characteristics, adaptation, reproduction, distribution and why they are valuable and threatened.
People also ask
Is seagrass a grass?
Why is seagrass important?
How did seagrass grow?
Seagrasses are flowering plants that grow in sediment on the seafloor along the coastal fringes of almost every continent. While called seagrasses, they are in fact, more closely related to lilies and gingers than to true grasses.
