According to Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, "Seagrass are the only true plant that can live completely submerged under water. The depth at which seagrass are found is limited by water clarity, which determines the amount of light reaching the plant. Light is required for the plants to make food through photosynthesis." Per the National Park Service, there are 70 known species of seagrass worldwide, and can be found in every content except Antarctica. They are consumed by marine grazers like manatees, dugongs, and green sea turtles and are the only flowering plant that lives in the sea. Seagrass are able to filter water and can produce oxygen, and control erosion through their root system.
In December 2022, a paper was published detailing how two different species of seagrass have the potential to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The ocean already absorbs a large amount of carbon dioxide, but plants will also absorb it and create oxygen, which we consume. The paper, "Carbon Absorption Potential on Seagrass Types Enhalus acoroides and Thalassia hemprichii in Morotai Island Water" details how seagrass beds can absorb carbon dioxide at significant amounts. It details climate change as occurring due to global warming via the effects of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide. The data was collected from September through December of 2021, sampling three areas, and two species of seagrass.
It was found in the study that the differences in temperature measurements (31-34 degrees C) affected the process of photosynthesis and reproduction in terms of the growth of seagrass and that the photosynthesis was also affected by sunlight, geographical differences in the three site locations, current circulation, wind, and the seasons. Thalassia hemprichii was found to have absorbed twice as much carbon as Enhalus acoroides, and the carbon concentration was found to be the highest in the plant's root system (the conclusion of the paper states that both species have the highest carbon content, which cannot be true as it is comparing two species of seagrass, but fortunately they listed the values with each).
It is important to research how plants can absorb carbon dioxide as it is created daily by humans (when we breathe out, or by the production of fossil fuels). We need more plants in the environment because they fix our carbon dioxide and create more oxygen, which we need to breathe. You can help with this by planting more plants at your house or joining a local community garden. You can also partake in guerilla gardening, which is raising food, plants, or flowers, on land that you do not have the legal rights to (abandoned sites, areas not cared for) which helps create more food for local wildlife or helps create more oxygen in the atmosphere overall. If you do this, it is vital you only plant things that would grow there, and to not introduce invasive species into any areas in which they do not belong.
Preventing the creation of excess carbon dioxide in the environment is easy to do if you take a moment.
Go make waves!
-Hunter