Seagrass and Neptune Balls

 

Seagrass and Neptune Balls by Yolanda Ridge

Here’s something you probably know (or could figure out): seagrass is grass that grows in the sea, usually close to shore in clusters called meadows.

Here’s something you probably didn’t know: seagrass is helping to fight plastic pollution.

How?

By removing microplastics from the ocean.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: When blades of seagrass die, they sink to the ocean floor and hang out between long blades of grass that are still growing strong.

Step 2: Ocean water washes through these seagrass meadows as the tide moves in and out.

Step 3: Tiny bits of plastic in the water get trapped among the living blades of grass and tumble about with the dead ones.

Step 4: Over time, they form something called Neptune balls.

Step 5: As Neptune balls grow in size, they eventually escape the seagrass meadow—with the help of waves—and roll toward shore.

Scientists estimate Neptune balls from a specific species of seagrass collect nearly 900 million plastic items in the Mediterranean Sea alone—every single year. That’s good news for ocean ecosystems since microplastics are a danger to everything from sea creatures to seagrass itself.

And that’s not all! Seagrass also:

• improves water quality by filtering out more than just plastic,

• fights climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, and

• provides a home for hundreds of different fish species.

So next time you’re swimming at the beach and feel something tickle your toes, look down and see if you’re swimming over a seagrass meadow. Leave it be and then give those Neptune balls a hand by picking up whatever plastic you see—on land or at sea—and disposing of it properly.

Yolanda Ridge is a middle grade author and science writer from Rossland, BC. Her most recent nonfiction book for young adult readers, CRISPR: A Powerful Way to Change DNA (Annick, 2020) is available wherever you buy books. Visit http://www.yolandaridge.com to find out more.

Image Credits

1. Seagrass Photograph: Milorad Mikota/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

2. Neptune ball at Sea Photograph: Oplats/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

3. Neptune Balls on Shore Photograph: Marta Veny/UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA/AFP/Getty Images

Source Information

1. Sànchez-Vidal, A.; Canals, M.; de Haan, W.P.; Romero, J.; Veny, M. “Seagrasses provide a novel ecosystem service by trapping marine plastics”. Scientific Reports, January, 2021.

Doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-79370-

2. https://phys.org/news/2021-01-seagrass-meadows-marine-plastic-sea.html

3. https://www.ub.edu/web/ub/en/menu_eines/noticies/2021/01/003.html