Importance
Eelgrass is regarded as one of the most important habitat-forming species of seagrass. While Eelgrass beds create a habitat capable of supporting many marine organisms, they also provide a host of other ecosystem services. Eelgrass meadows form extensive rhizome networks, which stabilize coastal sediments and recycle nutrients in the water column, improving overall water quality. The photosynthetic efficiency of eelgrass is exceptionally high; in dense beds you can see oxygen bubbling to the surface! The species can tolerate a wide range of temperatures and has a broad distribution. Eelgrass occupies the near-shore environment. As expanding communities live disproportionately on coastlines, this habitat is vulnerable to the impacts of human development.
The meadows are essential fish habitat and provide nursery areas for many common and commercially important species, including surfperch, rockfish, kelp bass, salmonids, herring, cod and dungeness crabs. These support complex food webs, providing a source of food for worms, sea cucumbers, crabs and many other invertebrates and fish. Eelgrass also helps to stabilize bottom sediment with its roots and maintain water clarity by trapping sediment with its leaves. Sediment mounds around the rhizome, building a productive seabed. Eelgrass meadows are very sensitive to disturbance by human activities such as pollution, dredging, and boat anchoring.
The meadows are essential fish habitat and provide nursery areas for many common and commercially important species, including surfperch, rockfish, kelp bass, salmonids, herring, cod and dungeness crabs. These support complex food webs, providing a source of food for worms, sea cucumbers, crabs and many other invertebrates and fish. Eelgrass also helps to stabilize bottom sediment with its roots and maintain water clarity by trapping sediment with its leaves. Sediment mounds around the rhizome, building a productive seabed. Eelgrass meadows are very sensitive to disturbance by human activities such as pollution, dredging, and boat anchoring.
Ecologic Value and Ecosystem Services
[1]
- Improves water quality
- Seafloor stabilization
- Nursery habitat
- Supports fisheries
- Nutrient uptake and storage
- Oxygen production
- Primary production
- Carbon sequestration
*Seagrasses can store as much carbon as terrestrial and tropical forests combined! [1]
