Slingshots Reunited: A Journey to the Isle of Wight to Restore a Priceless Ecosystem
Kevin grins from ear to ear at the sight of a common periwinkle. This pretty striated mollusc, clinging to a sandstone where the Solent washes the fishing sands of St Helens Beach, tells Kevin about something pleasantly sustainable in the natural world. Like most of our party of 12, Kevin signed up for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust Coastal Survey Volunteer Day to help ease his climate anxiety.
"It feels good doing something for our coastal environment rather than sitting at home worrying about the ecosystem collapsing," he says; the last time that he dug into rock pools was when he was a kid in the 1970s. ="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-10khgmf">Kevin and I stand side by side, rubber ankle deep in a rock pool on the Isle of Wig ht, marveling at the marine life around our feet. There are molluscs of all sizes, and meters of blond fucus; there are the peculiar potato-shaped organisms known as sea squirts and, further into the intertidal zone where green shoreline algae give way to golden and red hues, today's holy grail : a group of flowering sea plants that represent one of the brightest on our planet. hope when it comes to fighting climate change.
"Seagrasses are the unsung heroes of marine ecosystems," says marine biologist Emily Stroud, who leads today the intertidal survey of the Isle of Wight. investigation. "They absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the surrounding seawater, and their long leaves slow the flow of water, which encourages the carbon to sink to the seafloor, where it is then buried. These little stars also protect us from coastal erosion."
Unfortunately, in most global settings, this industrious marine flora - which includes ribbon-like seagrass , flat-fronted enhalus grasses and Mediterranean species such as Neptune grass – are in decline. Over 90% of Britain's seagrass beds have been lost, with much of this destruction taking place in the 20th century, when poor water quality caused by rapid industrialization led to a devastating disease that leveled our native grasslands . Sediments and turbidity have played their part, as have physical damage from anchors and fishing nets, commercial seaweed production and the tourist industry - especially in the Pacific and Southeast Asia - where the desire for pristine-looking beaches has led to the removal of seagrass.
Kevin grins from ear to ear at the sight of a common periwinkle. This pretty striated mollusc, clinging to a sandstone where the Solent washes the fishing sands of St Helens Beach, tells Kevin about something pleasantly sustainable in the natural world. Like most of our party of 12, Kevin signed up for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust Coastal Survey Volunteer Day to help ease his climate anxiety.
"It feels good doing something for our coastal environment rather than sitting at home worrying about the ecosystem collapsing," he says; the last time that he dug into rock pools was when he was a kid in the 1970s. ="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-10khgmf">Kevin and I stand side by side, rubber ankle deep in a rock pool on the Isle of Wig ht, marveling at the marine life around our feet. There are molluscs of all sizes, and meters of blond fucus; there are the peculiar potato-shaped organisms known as sea squirts and, further into the intertidal zone where green shoreline algae give way to golden and red hues, today's holy grail : a group of flowering sea plants that represent one of the brightest on our planet. hope when it comes to fighting climate change.
"Seagrasses are the unsung heroes of marine ecosystems," says marine biologist Emily Stroud, who leads today the intertidal survey of the Isle of Wight. investigation. "They absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the surrounding seawater, and their long leaves slow the flow of water, which encourages the carbon to sink to the seafloor, where it is then buried. These little stars also protect us from coastal erosion."
Unfortunately, in most global settings, this industrious marine flora - which includes ribbon-like seagrass , flat-fronted enhalus grasses and Mediterranean species such as Neptune grass – are in decline. Over 90% of Britain's seagrass beds have been lost, with much of this destruction taking place in the 20th century, when poor water quality caused by rapid industrialization led to a devastating disease that leveled our native grasslands . Sediments and turbidity have played their part, as have physical damage from anchors and fishing nets, commercial seaweed production and the tourist industry - especially in the Pacific and Southeast Asia - where the desire for pristine-looking beaches has led to the removal of seagrass.
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