Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Biodiversity; Environment
In news
Recently, the restoration process of seagrasses is taken up by Tamil Nadu in the Gulf of Mannar.
Important value additions
Seagrasses
These are flowering plants that grow submerged in shallow marine waters like bays and lagoons.
These have tiny flowers and strap-like or oval leaves.
Seagrasses evolved from terrestrial plants that recolonised the ocean around 70-100 million years ago.
Seagrasses also produce food by photosynthesis.
They reproduce sexually as well as asexually.
Some of the important seagrasses: (1) Sea Cow Grass (Cymodocea serrulata); (2) Thready Seagrass (Cymodocea rotundata); (3) Needle Seagrass (Syringodium isoetifolium); (4) Flat-tipped Seagrass (Halodule uninervis), etc.
Location: These are found in muddy and sandy substrates. These also occur along the coastal areas of India. These are abundant in the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar.
Significance: (1) They provide many ecosystem services; (2) These are also called ‘the lungs of the sea’ because they release oxygen into the water through photosynthesis; (3) Sequesters up to 11% of the organic carbon buried in the ocean; (4) Absorb carbon from the atmosphere. They can capture carbon from the atmosphere up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests; (5) Help maintain water quality; (6) Filter nutrients released from land-based industries; (7) Prevent soil erosion; (8) Provide food as well as habitat for fishes, octopuses, shrimp, blue crabs, oysters, etc.
Seagrass beds are facing decline all over the world at the rate of 2-5% annually.
Threats: Grazing, storms, ice-scouring (abrasion and erosion of seabeds by glaciers), desiccation, eutrophication, mechanical destruction of habitat, overfishing, coastal engineering construction, etc.
