There is a plethora of submerged aquatic plant species. Some may be more prevalent in certain areas than others. Submerged aquatic vegetation are plants that are completely under the water and typically have a root system in the bottom sediment. They require the water for physical support of the plant structure.

Seagrasses, marine flowering plants, have a long evolutionary history but are now challenged with rapid environmental changes as a result of coastal human population pressures. Seagrasses provide key ecological services, including organic carbon production and export, nutrient cycling, sediment stabilization, enhanced biodiversity, and trophic transfers to adjacent habitats in tropical and temperate regions.

A biogeographic study of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the Pontchartrain Basin of southeastern Louisiana was conducted. These plants provide numerous essential ecosystem services. Eighteen species occurred in different salinity zones ranging from freshwater to the saline waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Pontchartrain SAV coverage was reduced by 70 percent from 1953 to 1990 due to increased turbidity from urbanization and shell dredging.

Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) includes aquatic grasses (seagrasses) and attached macro-algae. SAV is highly valuable habitat since it provides numerous important ecological functions that are difficult to replace; yet it is especially vulnerable to coastal development and water quality degradation.

Despite the valuable role that mangroves and seagrass play in the Florida Keys ecosystem, these plants are facing one particularly large threat: Us. In the Florida Keys, human development is the greatest threat to mangrove communities. Since the 1950s, more than 60 percent of mangroves in Monroe County have been destroyed for development. Activities such as dredging, using herbicides, and increasing waste water runoff have destroyed thousands of acres of mangrove habitat.

This activity guide introduces the topic of Underwater gardening, allowing you to explore ways to plant seagrass.

Although wigeon grass (Ruppia maritima) is common all along coastal Louisiana, true seagrass meadows containing turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum), manatee grass (Syringodium filiforme), shoal grass (Halodule wrightii), and star grass (Halophila englemannii) currently occur only east of the Mississippi River near the Chandeleur Islands (fig. 1).

Seagrass are flowering plants that live in the sea. There are many different kinds of seagrasses and some do not look like grass at all. Some of the shapes and sizes of leaves of different species of seagrass include an oval shape, a fern shape, a long spaghetti like leaf and a ribbon shape.

You dive down into a undersea meadow. Surrounded by blades of seagrass up to a meter tall, you begin to notice the abundant life all around. Schools of baby fish hide within the grassy maze as emerald sea slugs graze algae off the blades. Seagrass is an ocean-dwelling flowering plant, which provides a home for countless creatures. But these habitats are threatened around the world.

Hidden under the waves, the humble seagrass remains relatively unknown by many of us, but this unassuming-looking plant plays an important role in restoring the health of our coastal ecosystems and fighting the climate crisis. Discover more about this once-common marine plant and the vast seagrass meadows being replanted around the UK coast.