An Ambassador for
Embattled Seagrasses Seeks
Global Monitoring System

From the Fall 2009 Issue

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<p>I thought you would be interested in this article from <em>environment: YALE</em> magazine, the Journal of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.<br />
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<h3 style="color:#666;">An Ambassador for Embattled Seagrasses Seeks Global Monitoring System</h3>
<em><p>By Steve Grant
</p></em><p><span class="dropcap">A</span> scientist who has spent decades researching seagrasses is refining a system that could be the key to the long-term preservation of these often-overlooked but invaluable marine plants. </p> <p>Anitra Thorhaug, a research professor since 1979, is working on a sophisticated process to better assess the condition of seagrasses and seaweeds worldwide, relying upon satellite surveillance data that are more comprehensive, less expensive and safer than the labor- and cost-intensive alternative—on-the-spot observation by crews of technicians.  </p> <p>Working in cooperation with Graeme Berlyn, E. H. Harriman Professor of Forest Management and Physiology of Trees, Thorhaug uses a technology called spectral reflectance to monitor seagrasses and seaweeds.</p> <p>“Nobody has ever tried these spectral techniques on seagrasses and macroalgae,” as seaweeds are more formally known, Thorhaug said. “We are being very ambitious and bold here.”</p> <p>A seagrass meadow is like a thriving city, a dynamic concentration of life whose influence radiates far beyond its confines. Seagrass leaves, or blades, as they are known, are food for conch and parrotfish, as well as a safe place for hundreds of species of fish to lay their eggs. Seagrasses also are shelter for many species of juvenile fish, including gray snapper, and prevent erosion of near-shore waters.</p> <p>“They also take a lot of carbon dioxide out of the air and the sea,” Thorhaug said. “They are a big part of the carbon cycle” and therefore can be valuable in containing global warming.</p> <p>They are, in fact, a bigger part of the carbon puzzle than…

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An Ambassador for Embattled Seagrasses Seeks Global Monitoring System

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EnvironmentYale Magazine

An Ambassador for
Embattled Seagrasses Seeks
Global Monitoring System