Why is seagrass so special?
Seagrasses have colonised the oceans since the time of the dinosaurs. They grow on sediment on the seafloor with vertically extended leaves and a buried root-like structure. Seagrasses typically grow in shallow, sheltered coastal environments. Their growth is regulated by the temperature, pH level, salinity, waves, currents, depth, light, nutrients and disease. Seagrasses are the only flowering plants or angiosperms that can exist underwater. All but one genus can live entirely immersed in seawater. Enhalus plants are the exception, as they must emerge for reproduction. Seagrasses reproduce through both asexual and sexual methods. In sexual reproduction the plants produce flowers and pollen from a male flower is transferred to the ovary of a female flower. Most seagrasses use sexual recruitment only for the initial establishment of the population (initial seedling recruitment; ISR). Long term survival is commonly achieved through clones by a means of vegetative propagation (asexual rep
