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Science Weekly

Seagrass meadows: can we rewild one of the world’s best carbon sinks?

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.21K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2022

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

They support an incredible array of biodiversity and may also be some of the world’s most effective carbon sinks. But vast swathes of seagrass meadows have been lost in the last century, and they continue to vanish at the rate of a football pitch every half hour. Madeleine Finlay makes a trip out of the Guardian office to visit a rewilding project in Hampshire. She speaks to marine biologist Tim Ferrero about the challenges of replanting seagrass meadows and what hope it offers.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Guardian. So, so, so skin.

0:18.0

Get your morning mojo going with Mullah like Greek style.

0:26.0

Now with a new recipe, with Vitamin B6 and Vitamin D. Let's have it! Mullen Light, get the good going. The record for the largest known plant on earth was recently broken by a sea grass,

0:47.0

roughly three times the size of Manhattan, discovered off the coast of Australia.

0:53.9

Sea grasses are... discovered off the coast of Australia. Seagrasses are the only flowering plants that can live in sea water and pollinate when submerged.

1:01.4

They often grow groups creating underwater meadows that look a lot like

1:05.7

terrestrial grasslands. Studies suggest that sea grass is one of the most effective carbon sinks.

1:14.0

They can also support an incredible amount of biodiversity.

1:18.0

On the UK coastlines, that means anenemies,

1:21.0

sea squirts, crabs, sea snails, cuttlefish and even seahorses.

1:27.0

They're also among the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. The UK only has a tiny fraction of its

1:35.6

original sea-grass meadows left. So now efforts are growing to bring them back.

1:44.0

But is it actually possible to turn mudflats into thriving sea grass meadows again?

1:49.0

And could they really be the carbon stores we so desperately need?

1:55.0

From the Guardian, I'm Madeline Finley,

1:58.0

and this is Science Weekly. On a gloriously sunny, but being England, still rather windy afternoon last week, the Guardian finally let me out of the studio.

2:17.7

Sadly not to sunbathe. Instead I headed down to the Solent, a Strait of the English Channel to meet Dr Tim Ferreiro, a marine biologist

2:26.5

and sea grass specialist at the Hampshire and Isle of White Wildlife Trust.

2:32.4

Good to meet you.

2:33.0

Sorry, I'm...

2:34.0

I'm...

2:35.0

I'm... How are you doing?

...

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