Ep. 432 - The Importance of Seagrass

In Defense of Plants Podcast

In Defense of Plants

Botany, Natural Sciences, Ecology, Nature, Plants, Science

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With approximately 60 species spread across four families, seagrasses are a wonderfully diverse group of marine aquatic plants. They are also extremely important both ecologically and economically. From supporting massive fisheries and reducing erosion to sequestering massive quantities of greenhouse gases, simply put, we can't overemphasize the importance of seagrasses across the globe. Unfortunately, our species hasn't treated seagrasses and the habitats they create very well. Seagrasses are also in desperate need of scientific study and that is where people like Bridget Shayka come in. Join us as we dive into her incredible research on Caribbean seagrasses and learn just how incredible these plants truly are. This episode was produced in part by Sea, Shannon, Thomas, Will, Jamie, Waverly, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys, Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Nichole, Paul, Karen, Randi, Caelan, Tom, Don, Susan, Corbin, Keena, Robin, Peter, Whitney, Kenned, Margaret, Daniel, Karen, David, Earl, Jocelyn, Gary, Krysta, Elizabeth, Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, Pattypollinators, Peter, Judson, Ella, Alex, Dan, Pamela, Peter, Andrea, Nathan, Karyn, Michelle, Jillian, Chellie, Linda, Laura, Miz Holly, Christie, Carlos, Paleo Fern, Levi, Sylvia, Lanny, Ben, Lily, Craig, Sarah, Lor, Monika, Brandon, Jeremy, Suzanne, Kristina, Christine, Silas, Michael, Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Mohsin Kazmi Takes Pictures, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Indefensive Plants podcast, the official podcast of
0:04.2	Indefensibleplants.com. What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How is everyone doing this week? I hope you brought your swimming gear, because today we are leaving the land and diving into the ocean to talk about seagrass. Now, to say seagrass, that way sounds like there's one type. There's many.
0:21.1	And my guest today
0:22.0	studies the ways in which humans affect seagrasses, but also their impacts on the world as a whole,
0:28.9	especially as it relates to things like carbon capture. Joining us to talk about this is Bridget
0:34.3	Sheikha, who spent many years studying seagrass at various different scales. It's fascinating work and really hints at a beginning of a much more in-depth and nuanced picture of what seagrasses are doing, not only just in the Bahamas, but across the world. I'll let her do all that, but before we get to that, I just want to say this show could not be happening without support. And there's a lot of
0:54.2	great ways to do that. One of the best ways is to go pick up some of our customizable merch. All you have to do is head over to indefensiveplants.com and click on apparel up at the top of the page or navigate to the show notes at indefensiveplants.com slash podcast where I put the link as well. All of our merch is customizable so you can find a style
1:12.0	that works for you and all of it features great botanical imagery, many of which is super cool and
1:16.7	vintage. Once again, this show can't happen without support and that is a great way to do it. But
1:21.5	that is entirely enough out of me. I don't want to take any more time. So let's jump into it. Without
1:26.3	further ado, here's my conversation with
1:28.3	Bridget Shaka. I hope you enjoy. All right, Bridget Shaka.
1:45.6	Welcome to the podcast.
1:47.0	I'm really excited to pick your brain today, but let's start off with an introduction.
1:50.3	Tell everyone a little bit about who you are and what it is you do.
1:54.1	Awesome.
1:54.8	Thank you so much for having me.
1:56.8	I am a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan, and I study seagrass, mostly in the tropical
2:05.2	places like the Bahamas.
2:06.9	And I'm really interested in carbon storage, but also in nutrient impacts from humans on
2:13.0	seagrass ecosystems.
2:14.8	Nice.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from In Defense of Plants, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of In Defense of Plants and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.