Why are seagrass meadows called the lungs of the sea?
Seagrass covers less than 0.2% of the ocean floor but captures 10% of the carbon buried in ocean sediment each year.
The answer
Seagrass meadows are underwater flowering plants that form dense underwater prairies in shallow coastal waters worldwide. Despite covering only about 0.1% of the ocean floor, they are responsible for approximately 10 to 18% of total oceanic carbon burial, making them extraordinarily efficient carbon sinks. A single hectare of seagrass can support up to 80,000 fish and 100 million invertebrates, and the meadows produce large amounts of oxygen while filtering sediment and pollutants. They also stabilize seafloor sediment, reducing coastal erosion. Seagrass is declining at a rate of about 7% per year globally, driven by water pollution, coastal development, and climate change.
Source: Nature Geoscience
- seagrass
- carbon sink
- coastal ecosystems
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