{"id":22922,"date":"2022-12-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=22922"},"modified":"2022-12-15T10:48:14","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T09:48:14","slug":"miracle-meadows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2022\/12\/15\/miracle-meadows\/","title":{"rendered":"Miracle meadows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Posidonia oceanica<\/em> is the most widespread seagrass in the Mediterranean Sea <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

MIRACLE MEADOWS<\/span><\/h2>\n\n

Ibiza\u2019s seagrass is a wonder plant and one man has made it his mission to protect it <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Words by <\/em>RICHARD FLEURY <\/strong>Photos by<\/em> MANU SAN F\u00c9LIX<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about the world of plants catch up with The Green Planet <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

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The \u2018matte\u2019 of roots and rhizomes trap carbonfilled sediment <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

WITHOUT DROPPING ANCHOR, THE DIVE boat drifts slowly to a stop in some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean. The secret of this perfect turquoise sea, off the Balearic island of Formentera, lives just below its surface. I roll over the side with a splash and there it is all around me: uniform pale green mops swaying in the gentle current. It is <\/span>Posidonia <\/em>oceanica; <\/em>a seagrass found only here in the Mediterranean.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Named after the Greek sea deity, Posidonia <\/em>(or Neptune grass in honour of its Roman counterpart) is a subaquatic superplant. It cleans water, fights climate change and generates oxygen. The 15km or so sea floor separating Formentera from its noisy, party-island neighbour Ibiza is carpeted with the stuff. This entire submarine savannah is one huge, self-cloning organism that, at about 100,000 years old, is more ancient than both Poseidon and Neptune. But it is vanishing at an alarming rate.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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Seagrass meadows off the rocky coast of Formentera <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Punta de Sa Pedrera is a rocky outcrop a short RIB ride from Formentera\u2019s La Savina harbour. Its secluded coves are dotted with local fishers\u2019 huts and painted wooden boats. Once a Roman fishing settlement, divers still find pottery fragments on the seabed here. Back in the 1960s, hammerhead sharks were caught daily in this shallow bay. Today, they are almost extinct. But for now at least, the seagrass remains alive and well. Sea bream and goldline swim through its waving, tapelike leaves, while sunlight catches the silvery flank of a well-fed sea bass patrolling above. <\/p>\n\n

A naturally photogenic wildlife haven, the BBC series The <\/em>Green <\/em>Planet <\/em>filmed here, describing Posidonia <\/em>as \u201cone of the most important plants on Earth\u201d. <\/p>\n\n

A POSIDONIA MEADOW is an ecosystem of incredible biodiversity. As a nursery for marine life, it provides food, protection and a place to mate and lay eggs. More than 400 plant species and 1,000 animal species call it home. Residents include turtles, and fish such as rainbow wrasse, grouper, pipefish, scorpion fish and trigger fish. <\/p>\n\n

Its undulating emerald foliage is a habitat for fragile species such as the Pinna <\/em>nobilis, <\/em>a clam that can grow to more than a metre in size, and which is recovering from a 2016 disease outbreak that wiped out 99 per cent of the population in Spain. At the opposite end of the scale, the rare, jewel-like, long-snouted seahorse relies on <\/span>Posidonia <\/em>for camouflage and protection, wrapping its tail around the narrow leaves as it grazes on plankton passing in the current.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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Goldenline, which are recognisable by their golden stripes, call the seagrass meadows home <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Not to be confused with seaweed, seagrasses are the only flowering plants able to live in saltwater. There are just 72 of these so-called marine angiosperm species around the world (see box <\/em>right). <\/em>Posidonia <\/em>can also reproduce asexually by generating exact clones of itself, making it a potentially immortal plant. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt looks exactly like a land plant because it comes from a land plant that continued evolving and went back to the ocean,\u201d says Manu San F\u00e9lix, a dive instructor and underwater film-maker who has dedicated 30 years of his life to protecting Posidonia. <\/em><\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like the marine mammals that descended from land animals and re-conquered the aquatic world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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Manu San F\u00e9lix has fought for Posidonia<\/em> since the 80s <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

\u201cPosidonia oceanica absorbs carbon dioxide up to 35 times faster than a tropical forest\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

When he arrived here in 1992 as a young marine biologist, the rocky bays of Punta de Sa Pedrera gave Manu his first, life-changing glimpse of the island\u2019s seagrass meadows. \u201cI jumped in and I was blown away!\u201d he recalls. \u201cOh my God! I was in love!\u201d Struck by their beauty, Manu immersed himself in every sense. He became a diving machine, constantly roaming the Posidonia <\/em>beds, photographing their marine life and teasing apart the long leaves to observe the hidden world within. \u201cThis is a tiny jungle,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have starfish, sponges, anemones, nudibranchs, bryozoans, molluscs. ManyspeciesdependonPosidonia<\/em>toliveandreproduce.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

He speaks passionately, occasionally thumping the table for emphasis, rattling off Posidonia facts and figures from memory. A single square metre generates up to 20 litres of oxygen a day, he explains \u2013 as much as a hectare of pristine Amazon rainforest. \u201cIf you do a quick <\/span>calculation, <\/span><\/span>the meadow between Ibiza and Formentera is providing the oxygen for the population of both islands to breathe,\u201d he says. \u201cThis service is provided to us for free. What more reason do you need to protect this plant?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

GIFTS THAT KEEP ON GIVING, these \u2018lungs of the Mediterranean\u2019 are a crucial natural defence against climate change. Globally, seagrass meadows are significant carbon sinks and Posidonia <\/em>oceanica <\/em>is the most effective species, absorbing carbon dioxide up to 35 times faster than a tropical forest. An estimated half of the carbon buried in marine sediments around the world is trapped in the tangled roots and rhizomes (known as the matte) of seagrasses. <\/p>\n\n

Dead fibres and roots also trap plastic pollution in golf ball-sized clumps known as \u2018Neptune Balls\u2019 that eventually wash up on the shore. A recent study found they bundle up as much as 900 million pieces of plastic from the Mediterranean every year. <\/span>Posidonia <\/em>protects the coast from erosion too. The meadows act as a buffer, slowing the power of waves, while the plant\u2019s dead leaves accumulate on beaches in masses called banquettes that shield the shoreline from winter storms. In the past, this material was used as roof insulation for Ibicencan houses and as fertiliser for the island\u2019s potato fields.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

In return for all these ecosystem services, all Posidonia <\/em>needs is clean water and stable temperatures. Yet humans are failing on both of those fronts. Today\u2019s Mediterranean is widely agreed to be the most polluted sea in the world, a dumping ground for 650 million tons of sewage and 500 shipping containers worth of plastic every year. And climate change is pushing sea temperatures to dangerous levels. At 28\u02daC, Posidonia <\/em>stops growing and starts to die. The waters around Ibiza and Formentera regularly reach 29\u02daC during the summer. <\/p>\n\n

Manu has been ringing the alarm bell for decades. His report on the Posidonia <\/em>meadows paved the way for their designation as the Mediterranean\u2019s first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. That same year, the 13,000ha Es Freus Marine Reserve was created between the southernmost tip of Ibiza and north-west Formentera. <\/p>\n\n

  • \"\"
    A pregnant male long-snouted seahorse hides among the roots <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
  • \"\"
    Posidonia hosts epiphytes and microorganisms <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
  • \"\"
    Sonar devices have mapped seagrass areas <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n
    <\/div>
    \n
    OTHER SEAGRASS PROJECTS <\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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    Australian snapper <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Seeds for Snapper <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    SOUTH AUSTRALIA <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Eleven species of seagrass grow in the waters off South Australia, covering an area of nearly 1,000km2. The Seeds for Snapper initiative, launched in 2020 by fishing conservation charity OzFish, involves collecting seeds on the beach, which are used to restore seagrass meadows. The hope is to re-establish about 10ha of seagrass off the Adelaide coast, which will provide habitat for fish such as snappers (hence the name), calamari and whiting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Eelgrass <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Danish divers <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    DENMARK <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Seagrass once covered the seabed at Vejle Fjord, on Jutland\u2019s east coast, but 90 percent of the seagrass meadows here have been destroyed by wastewater pollution in the past 30 years. The University of Southern Denmark has enlisted volunteer divers to hand-plant eelgrass seeds on the ocean floor.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Seagrass in Wales <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Project Seagrass <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    UK <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The UK has four types of seagrass in its waters, including two Zostera <\/em>species, commonly known as eelgrass. Nearly 40 per cent of meadows have been lost since the 1980s. Project Seagrass was founded in 2013 and its biggest restoration project to date is in Dale, Pembrokeshire, where more than one million seeds were planted across 2ha in 2019 and 2020. The site is now being monitored, and will guide other restoration efforts in the UK. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

    BUT WITH IBIZA\u2019S TOURIST industry booming, Posidonia <\/em>is under growing threat from an explosion in boat traffic, from pleasure cruisers and local ferries to mega yachts and colossal cruise ships. \u201cFifty years ago it was one or two boats, but now we have thousands every day,\u201d says Manu. \u201cI could see the damage caused by anchors and chains, so I decided to film it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

    Manu sought out the biggest boat with the heaviest anchor and photographed its drifting chain destroying a Posidonia <\/em>bed in just eight hours. The resulting video provoked national outrage. \u201cMany people cried,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe Spanish newspapers were ringing me every day and I was under a lot of pressure from the boating industry. We depend on tourism and we need boats to come. This is not a battle against boats, but to do things with common sense.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

    Manu followed up with a seabed survey between 2008 and 2012, which, together with previous studies, revealed plants being lost at an alarming rate: a third of the western Mediterranean\u2019s meadows gone in a few decades. \u201cI was shocked,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we continue like this, boats will wipe out all the Posidonia <\/em>in this area within ten years.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

    Ibiza\u2019s longest-established environmental organisation, GEN-GOB, has been monitoring the impact of anchoring and declining water quality on Posidonia <\/em>meadows for the past three years. \u201cThe seagrass meadows in the Balearics are like coral reefs in the tropics,\u201d says marine area specialist Xisco Sobrado. \u201cOur divers check density, cover and the percentage of meadow that has been lost or is already dead. In areas with anchoring you can lose 30 per cent in three or four years; in some places as much as 50 per cent. It\u2019s a big emergency.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

    • \"\"
      Manu raises awareness through his diving tours <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
    • \"\"
      Leaves can grow to 2m and camouflage species such as this green wrasse <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
    • \"\"
      Transplantation of Posidonia is limited in its success due to the plant\u2019s slow growth rate <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n

      \u201cIn areas of anchoring you can lose 30 per cent in three or four years; in some places as much as 50 per cent\u201d <\/p>XISCO SOBRADO, MARINE AREA SPECIALIST<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n

      REPLANTING IS POSSIBLE BUT is not a viable short-term solution: a square metre patch of seagrass killed in a few hours by a single anchor can take a century to regrow. \u201cIf we put a plant in the middle of a 15m diameter circle of bare sand, it will take 250 years to cover that circle,\u201d explains Manu. \u201cThe challenge is to make society change \u2013 this is always going to be difficult.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

      Fortunately, action has been forthcoming. In 2018, the Balearics\u2019 government passed a decree making it illegal for boats to anchor over <\/span>Posidonia. <\/em>Since then, using underwater cartography technology known as side-scan sonar, Manu and his team have developed a free app to help skippers avoid meadows and locate safe anchoring areas around Formentera. The efforts to preserve Ibiza\u2019s <\/span>Posidonia <\/em>are part of an ambition to recover the whole Mediterranean ecosytem by 2030.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

      Education also plays into this, and local skippers Mirko Abbruzzese and Diego de le Vina have developed a government-approved responsible sailing course aimed at the charter industry. \u201cCrews have to understand the importance of biodiversity,\u201d says Mirko. \u201cOnce they understand, they value; once they value, they will act.\u201d Captains are taught environmental best practice at sea, from protecting Posidonia <\/em>to cutting marine pollution. \u201cWe hope this course will one day be mandatory for anyone navigating our natural reserves.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

      The Med\u2019s problems are far from unique, of course. The effects of overfishing, pollution and climate change are visible in seas worldwide. \u201cBut you see it here first,\u201d says Manu. \u201cThe Mediterranean is a small and almost enclosed sea. Imagine being in a cinema and turning off the air conditioning. The only way to refresh that air is to open a door \u2013 that door is the Strait of Gibraltar.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

      His hope is that lessons learned around Formentera can be applied to protect seas and oceans globally. \u2018\u2018We have an opportunity because we know the solutions. We can test mechanisms to recover fishing, improve water quality and reintroduce species,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd if we do it the right way, we\u2019ll see the return faster than in the ocean because this is smaller.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

      Restoring the world\u2019s most damaged seas won\u2019t be easy. But, properly looked after, Posidonia <\/em>\u2013 a forever plant named after ancient sea gods \u2013 will be a powerful ally. <\/p>\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n

      \n\n
      \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR <\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

      Freelance journalist and film-maker Richard Fleury has travelled the world reporting on everything from marine life to motor racing. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including <\/span>The <\/em>Times, <\/em>the <\/span>Guardian <\/em>and <\/span>Wired.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

      PHOTOS: MANU SAN F\u00c9LIX; MANU: RICHARD FLEURY; WALES: PROJECT SEAGRASS; EELGRASS: NICO VAN KAPPEL\/BUITEN-BEELD\/ALAMY; SNAPPER: DANIEL POLOHA\/ALAMY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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