Accelerating loss of seagrasses across the globe threatens coastal ecosystems

This global assessment of 215 studies found that seagrasses have been disappearing at a rate of 110 km² yr^-1 since 1980. Rates of decline have accelerated from a median of 0.9% yr^-1 before 1940 to 7% yr^-1 since 1990. Seagrass loss rates are comparable to those reported for mangroves, coral reefs, and tropical rainforests and place seagrass meadows among the most threatened ecosystems on earth. Bill Dennison and Tim Carruthers from IAN were co-authors on this paper, published as an open access online article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, which resulted from a series or workshops at NCEAS, UC Santa Barbara (National Center for Ecosystem Analysis and Synthesis).

---