SYDNEY, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Australian scientists are restoring Sydney Harbor's seagrass meadows while helping the endangered seahorse population recover.
Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are restoring native seagrass meadows and building "hotels" to save the endangered White's Seahorse population in Sydney Harbor in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), a UNSW news release said on Thursday.
White's Seahorse, native to eastern Australia, faces extinction as its key habitat, Posidonia meadows, has nearly vanished from Sydney's coast over the past 50 years due to urban growth and pollution, UNSW scientists warned on Thursday.
Seagrasses stabilize coastlines, store carbon, and nurture juvenile marine life; as they vanish, so do the species reliant on them, said UNSW Professor Adriana Verges, a leader in the Greener Pastures project and several related marine restoration efforts.
To counter habitat loss, scientists are replanting seagrass and using custom-built "seahorse hotels", steel mesh cages that mimic natural habitats. These quickly become covered with marine growth such as sponges, corals and algae, providing shelter and food for White's Seahorses, which colonize them within months.
Sydney's Cobblers Beach now has 15 "seahorse hotels." Within a year, the White's Seahorse population grew from eight to 12, including juveniles, as the "hotels" also protect young seagrass, supporting ecological restoration, said the release.
Male seahorses, responsible for giving birth, are increasingly observed at the "hotels," signaling population growth, while improved habitats attract diverse marine life, it said, adding scientists hope to recover seagrass and seahorse populations enough to remove their endangered status within a decade. ■
