Seagrass-Watch
Education
We strive to educate and collaborate with likeminded conservationists to make a difference environmentally and socially.
Everyone needs an understanding of science to make sense of their world, to make decisions about health and well-being and to engage with an increasingly scientific and technological world. Quality science education provides the foundation for a scientifically literate society. Children are naturally curious and we need to support and nurture their sense of wonder and develop their passion for discovering how the world works.
Coastal communities are concerned about the condition and loss of seagrasses in their regions and are keen to play a primary information-gathering role and work in partnership with Seagrass-Watch Global Seagrass Observing Network.
What is seagrass?
Seagrasses are flowering plants (angiosperms) which have flowers and pollination systems that are well adapted for pollination via water. Seagrass grow in sediment on the sea floor with erect, elongate leaves and a buried root-like structure (rhizome).
Marine Plant
pollination
Habitat
What is seagrass?
Seagrasses are unique flowering plants that have evolved to live in sea water. Seagrasses belong to a group of plants known as angiosperms (flowering plants).
Like land living plants, a seagrass can be divided into its leaves (which contain veins), rhizome, roots (buried in the substrate), and reproductive parts such as flowers and fruits. Algae do not have veins in their leaves nor do they possess roots (anchoring to the surface of the substrate by a holdfast) or produce flowers or seeds.
- Seagrass meadow
- Photographer: Dimitris Poursanidis
Seagrass importance
Seagrass provides food and shelter for many organisms and are a major food source for a number of grazing animals.
Pastures of the sea
Seagrass provides food and shelter for many organisms, and are a nursery ground for commercially important prawn and fish species.
Food Source
Seagrasses a major food source for a number of grazing animals. The dugong and the green turtle mainly feed on seagrass.
carbon Sequester
Globally, seagrasses are as important as forests in storing carbon (on an areal basis) and can store carbon 35 times faster than rainforests.
Sediment Stabilisation
Seagrass, especially structurally large species, acts as a buffer for reducing wave and tidal energy.
Oxygen Pumps
1 meter sq of seagrass can produce up to 10 litres of O2 per day. It pumps O2 into roots to offset sulphide toxicity and facilitate uptake of nutrients.
Ecosystem Engineers
Seagrasses often improve their physical surroundings, filtering out nutrients that come from land-based discharge/runoff.
seagrass
Education and awareness within the broader community about the significance of seagrass ecosystems and highlight the pressing issues surrounding coastal management.
seagrass
Education and awareness within the broader community about the significance of seagrass ecosystems and highlight the pressing issues surrounding coastal management.
THREATS TO SEAGRASS
Seagrass meadows are fragile ecosystems. Human impacts such as sewage discharge, oil spills, coastal runoff, dredging, boat propellers and anchors/moorings can damage or destroy seagrasses.
Water Quality
Runoff off/Suspended sediments can cause a reduction in sunlight which will affect seagrass photosynthesis and can kill whole populations.
Coastal development
Seagrass loss is often linked to coastal development. This can include physical damage (topography & changes in water currents/flows).
Dredging
Physical damage from plant removal, reducing light availability can put pressure on seagrass systems.
Boating
Scarring can be caused by propellers, motors and hulls coming into contact with seagrass in shallow water, creating physical damage to the crucial roots and rhizomes of the seagrass and leaves a visible scar.
Netting/Trawling
Trawling has direct and indirect impacts on seagrass meadows; substrate is lost or destabilised, seagrasses are uprooted and damaged. Sediment resuspension reduces light necessary for seagrass photosynthesis
Anchoring
Anchors can damage seagrass. Dragging an anchor can uproot seagrass and rhizome. An anchor chain can scrape the seabed as it pivots around the anchor point with changes in wind direction and tide.
SAVING SEAGRASS
An exploration of the priceless environment of Roebuck Bay, Western Australia – the traditional lands of the Yawuru people – now under threat on many fronts. The immense bay is home to dugong and turtles, myriads of migrating birds and countless shellfish. It’s also been the food bowl for generations and generations of the Yawuru people.
SAVING SEAGRASS
An exploration of the priceless environment of Roebuck Bay, Western Australia – the traditional lands of the Yawuru people – now under threat on many fronts. The immense bay is home to dugong and turtles, myriads of migrating birds and countless shellfish. It’s also been the food bowl for generations and generations of the Yawuru people.
SOME FACTS
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saving seagrass
The habitat complexity within seagrass meadows enhances the diversity and abundance of animals. Seagrasses on reef flats and near estuaries are also nutrient sinks, buffering or filtering nutrient and chemical inputs to the marine environment. They also stabilise coastal sediments.
They also provide food and shelter for many organisms, and are a nursery ground for commercially important prawn and fish species. The high primary production rates of seagrasses are closely linked to the high production rates of associated fisheries. These plants support numerous herbivore- and detritivore-based food chains, and are considered very productive pastures of the sea. The associated economic values of seagrass meadows are very large, although not always easy to quantify.
Seagrass/algae meadows are rated the 3rd most valuable ecosystem globally (on a per hectare basis), only preceded by estuaries and wetlands. The average global value of seagrasses for their nutrient cycling services and the raw product they provide has been estimated at 1994US$ 19,004 ha-1 yr-11.. This value would be significantly greater if the habitat/refugia and food production services of seagrasses were included.
nutrient sinks
Seagrasses on reef flats and near estuaries are nutrient sinks, buffering or filtering nutrient and chemical inputs to the marine environment. They stabilise coastal sediments, preventing coastal erosion.
food and shelter
Seagrasses provide food and shelter for many organisms, they are a nursery ground for commercially important prawn and fish species. Seagrasses a major food source for a number of grazing animals, like dugongs and green turtles.
Carbon Sequester
Globally, seagrasses are as important as forests in storing carbon (on an areal basis) and can store carbon 35 times faster than rainforests. Coastal seagrass meadows hold up to 83,000 metric tons of carbon km-1
Seagrass Introduction
Seagrass Improtance
Seagrass
Seagrass Introduction
Seagrass Biology
Seagrass Ecology
The Super Seagrass Search
Marine Plants Can Save the World
Dugongs Serving as Seagrass "Mascots"
Seagrass Meadows
Activity Education books
Below are Seagrass-Watch activity books and an educator’s handbook. Teachers are encouraged to use these documents as part of lessons or extra-curricula activities. You are welcome to download these documents and trial them. We also value your feedback so that we can develop tools which are useful and valuable to the learning experience.
Seagrass-Watch Activity Book
Activity Book - Junior edition
Educators Handbook
Seagrass posters
About
Ecosystem
Pressures
Meadows of the sea
Dugong: a fragile life cycle
Coastal connections
Seagrass-Watch Activity Book
The activity book : students 12 years and older
- parts of a seagrass plant
- how to identify seagrass
- the importance of seagrass to marine animals and fisheries
- endangered dugongs and green sea turtles
Seagrass-Watch Activity Book - Junior edition
The junior edition : under 12 years of age.
- easy guide to identify seagrass
- the importance of seagrass to marine animals and fisheries
- endangered dugongs and green sea trurtles
- how seagrass can be damaged
- how seagrass can be monitored.
Educators Handbook
Educator’s guide
The Educators Handbook provides detailed information on what seagrasses are.
Information on seagrass habitat and its function, such as sediment stabilisation, food web and nursery areas is provided.
Conservation and management options for seagrass habitats are also discussed. The booklet also includes suggested activities.
Other Publications
Handbook mangrove ecosystem
Environmental Sustainability in Zanzibar
Dugong & Marine Turtle Teaching Resource and Information Package
Underwater meadows of seagrass (Arabic)
Underwater meadows of seagrass (Catalan)
Underwater meadows of seagrass (spanish)
Underwater meadows of seagrass (French)
Dhyum the Dugong
Myrtle's battle against climate change.
Teaching handbook mangrove swamp forest ecosystem
Choo Chee Kuang, CC. and bin Zainal, MZ. (2006) Buku panduan pengajaran ekosistem hutan paya bakau (teaching handbook mangrove swamp forest ecosystem). Save Our Seahorses (SOS).
12pp. Language: malay
Environmental Sustainability in Zanzibar
Prepared by Nell Hamilton, Jokha Omar, Narriman Jiddawi, Anita Walther, Sophia Masuka, Elizabeth Godfrey & David Tanner. Edited by Nell Hamilton.
a sustainable future for Zanzibar [4.8Mb].
Underwater meadows of seagrass
Renom, P., Llobet, T. and Romero, J. (2001) Els prats submarins de Posidònia (Underwater meadows of seagrass). Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament of Medi Ambient. 56pp.
Through the story told by a boy and a fish called Agulla, the story shows underwater meadows of seagrass, what organisms live there, what and how environmental problems have used before this plant. At the end of the story there is a booklet explaining the various aspects of seagrass, including the origin, life cycle, other seagrasses, annual cycle, and trophic relationships in this ecosystem, which compares the forest. The information provided the basis for developing the activities proposed in the teaching guide. Aimed at primary and secondary school.
The story was published in Catalan, French, Arabic and Spanish.
Dugong and Marine Turtle Teaching Resource and Information Package
Torres Strait Regional Authority’s Land and Sea Management Unit (TSRA LSMU). (2009)
Dugong and Marine Turtle Teaching Resource and Information Package. North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance’s Dugong and Marine Turtle Project, Darwin.
This guide is also available at nailsma.org
Dhyum the Dugong
Fuentes, M. (2012) Dhyum the Dugong. Reef & Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns, Australia (32pp.).
Dhyum the Dugong was written to educate children about the importance of conserving dugongs. The main character of the book, Dhyum the dugong, is based on a real animal that was satellite tagged at Mabuiag Island in 2010 and named by the local children.
Learn more about Dr Mariana Fuentes
This guide is also available at Dr Mariana Fuentess website
Myrtle's battle against climate change.
Fuentes, M. (2010) Myrtle’s battle against climate change. Reef & Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns, Australia (22pp.).
This book is dedicated to the children of the Torres Strait islands with the hope that they learn about the effects of climate change on sea turtles and find a way to make a difference.
Learn more about Dr Mariana Fuentes
This guide is also available at Dr Mariana Fuentess website