Colleen Cronin: Monitoring the health of a bay by seagrasses

Zostera marina – the most abundant seagrass species in the Northern Hemisphere.

Evolution of seagrass, showing the progression onto land from marine origins, the diversification of land plants and the subsequent return to the sea by the seagrasses.

Text by Colleen Cronin for ecoRI News

There are many ways to understand the health of Narragansett Bay. Scientists monitor its bacteria and nutrient levels, its temperature, and the populations of its sea creatures.

But there is another indicator, lying below the surface, recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency and tracked by the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program (NBEP), that can also help explain the complicated condition of Rhode Island’s marine waters.

Seagrasses that make up the “forest beneath the sea” shelter the sea’s young, provide food for its inhabitants, stabilize sediment, and even absorb carbon, according to NBEP staff scientist Courtney Schmidt. But their growth can also sound the alarm on the overall health of the water.

In Rhode Island, the two prominent types of seagrasses are called widgeon grass and eelgrass. The latter is the most common.

“We don’t have a big historical record of seagrass,” Schmidt said. “That isn’t to say it wasn’t there, it’s just that we weren’t writing it down.”

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