Seagrass Ecosystems At A 'Global Crisis'

[phantom power]

An international team of scientists is calling for a targeted global conservation effort to preserve seagrasses and their ecological services for the world's coastal ecosystems, according to an article published in the December issue of Bioscience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS).

The article "A Global Crisis for Seagrass Ecosystems" cites the critical role seagrasses play in coastal systems and how costal development, population growth and the resulting increase of nutrient and sediment pollution have contributed to large-scale losses worldwide.

"Seagrasses are the coal mine canaries of coastal ecosystems," said co-author Dr. William Dennison of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. "The fate of seagrasses can provide resource managers advance signs of deteriorating ecological conditions caused by poor water quality and pollution."

(...)

Seagrasses -- a unique group of flowering plants that have adapted to exist fully submersed in the sea -- profoundly influence the physical, chemical and biological environments of coastal waters. They provide critical habitat for aquatic life, alter water flow and can help mitigate the impact of nutrient and sediment pollution.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061201105729.htm

[nam78_two]

1. K&R/nt

[YankeyMCC]

2. "Seagrasses are the coal mine canaries..."

How many fracking canaries is it gonna take to get enough people outraged enough to demand action and take action?

K & R btw