Non-native seagrass impacting Caribbean Chelonia mydas
A seagrass species from the Red Sea is outcompeting the native seagrass species in the Caribbean, where the green sea turtle lives. These iconic turtles are seeing their grazing areas decline, because they have little interest in the foreign seagrass. Wageningen researchers and colleagues from other research institutions discovered how these large underwater grazers seem to dig their watery grave with their own eating behaviour. The Journal of Ecology for this week reports on the topic.
Since the opening of the Suez Canal in 1892, the seagrass Halophila stipulacea, once isolated in the Red Sea, began making its way into the Mediterranean. That did not cause any problems for existing populations of seagrass in those areas. However, the exotic seagrass reached the eastern Caribbean by ship in 2002, where it turned out to be dominant over the original seagrass, the native Thalassia testudinum. This has allowed the non-native species to form extensive meadows on the sea floor.
The green sea turtle Chelonia mydas swims in these same tropical waters. For millions of years, it has been gracefully grazing in the fields of the native seagrass species.
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Photo from Wageningen University & Research .
