Warming seas can threaten the hidden relationship that supports seagrass meadows

Warming seas can threaten the hidden relationship that supports seagrass meadows

On the western side of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, sits Myuna Bay, a quiet bay with meadows of seagrass waving beneath the water. The most common marine plant species you find there is Zostera muelleri. It has long ribbon-like leaves that grow from stems (called rhizomes) buried beneath the sediment and provides important shelter for small fish, shrimp and crabs. Although Myuna Bay looks quite normal, it is actually a bit unusu…