Rewilding the Sea with Domesticated Seagrass

It is well known that seagrass meadows sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide, protect coasts, provide nurseries for global fisheries, and enhance biodiversity. Large-scale restoration of lost seagrass meadows is urgently needed to revive these planetary ecosystem services, but sourcing donor material from natural meadows would further decline them. Therefore, we advocate the domestication and mariculture of seagrasses in order to produce the large quantities of seed needed for successful rewilding of the sea with seagrass meadows. We provide a roadmap for our proposed solution and show that 44% of seagrass species have promising reproductive traits for domestication and rewilding by seeds. The principle of partially domesticating species to enable subsequent large-scale rewilding may form a successful shortcut to restore threatened keystone species and their vital ecosystem services.

Automated summary

In order to restore lost seagrass meadows and rebuild global ecosystem services, we advocate for the domestication and mariculture of seagrasses to produce large quantities of seeds. 44% of seagrass species have promising reproductive traits for domestication and rewilding by seeds. The principle of partially domesticating species could be a successful shortcut to restore threatened keystone species and their vital ecosystem services.