- checking login information
Loading...Seagrasses Can Store Twice as Much Carbon as Forests
- Molly, selected from TreeHugger
- June 3, 2012
- 12:30 pm
- 55 comments
By Mat McDermott, TreeHugger
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about this, but it is the first global analysis of how much carbon is stored by seagrasses: According to new research, published in Nature Geosciences, seagrasses can store up to twice as much carbon per square kilometer as above ground forests.
In terms of numbers, coastal seagrasses can store 83,000 metric tons of carbon per square kilometer, versus 30,000 tons for a typical forest. Furthermore, though seagrasses occur in just 0.2% of the world’s oceans, they are responsible for storing over 10% of all the carbon buried annually in the ocean. 90% of the carbon storied by seagrasses is sequestered in the soil anchoring the grass, where it can form carbon stores several meters deep. In some cases these seagrass meadows have been accumulating carbon for thousands of years.
If you guessed there was a “seagrasses are threatened” angle in this, you’re right.
The paper finds that 29% of all historic seagrass meadows have been destroyed, primarily due to dredging and water pollution, with 1.5% of seagrass meadows destroyed each year. Should this continue, the destruction of these meadows will result in carbon emissions one-quarter as great as deforestation.
Related:
12 Problems with Ocean Fish Farming
The World’s 6 Most Endangered Animal Habitats
5 Human Habits Harmful to Ocean Health
Read more: Conservation, Environment, Nature, Nature & Wildlife, News & Issues, carbon, climate change, oceans, seagrass
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
people are talking
an expectation in this article is saying that if we 'expect' a certain outcome and it never happens …
Hope they all find a loving home
talented cat.
Thanks
Thanks
55 comments
+ add your ownamazing, thank you
Thank you for sharing.
Fascinating and timely information, our seas, oceans...water has to be protected so that essential sea grasses and other life vital for the health of the planet continue to survive. So many entities such as coral reefs and others are facing destruction.
we need to do something about this now.
Thanks for the information.
I love nature and under water sea life.
Very interesting and awfully disheartening to find that we are just as successfully destroying these sea grass meadows as we are deforesting the earth!
That's incredibly interesting.
This is why mapping the ocean depths is so valuable in establishing what has been destroyed and what needs to be replanted. Fortunately, scientific and ecological groups are advising authorities and many wetland groups are making repairs.
So many authorities unknowingly cause damage to our environment because they don't interact with environmentalists...
thanks for sharing this, the oceans and their inhabitants need to be protected, not destroyed
login to add your comment
use your care2 login
add your comment