Stronger Shorelines

an interactive database for marine vegetation restoration

Our Goal

We are passionate UCLA students researching how certain marine restoration projects, involving kelp forests and seagrass beds, can provide various benefits for both the planet and its inhabitants. As part of UCLA'S Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, our practicum goal is to establish a scientific communications portal for students and researchers to utilize in future restoration.

Why is marine vegetation important?

Marine vegetation provides a number of valuable ecosystem services: preventing shoreline erosion, providing habitats and food for aquatic species such as fish, shellfish and invertebrates, and enhancing water quality. Restored seagrass meadows and kelp forests have encouraged the return of several species of aquatic organisms in different locations. Seagrasses naturally defend coastal shorelines from eroding waves. Additionally, these aquatic plants help to filter both sediments and excess nutrients from surrounding water, which prevents the growth of deoxygenating algae. Supporting healthy habitats allows for biodiversity to thrive! The restoration of marine vegetation is a worthy investment to protect aquatic communities.

How do these habitats impact our world?

Seagrass and kelp provide a possible mitigation strategy for the looming issue of anthropogenic climate change. They have proven to be an extremely effective measure at quickly capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which can help to slow climate change and the greenhouse effect. Coastal vegetation around the globe has been estimated to sequester about 866 Teragrams (Tg) of carbon per year through export to the deep sea and sediments. Kelp alone sequesters approximately 173 Tg of carbon, equivalent to over 190 million tons, per year within the ocean floor. This equates to 27 million elephants worth of carbon sequestered.1

This “blue carbon” sequestration transforms dissolved carbon dioxide into vegetative biomass. This provides the necessary organic compounds required for primary production, making seagrass a food source for sea turtles, manatees, and migratory birds. The loss of this keystone species would damage local ecosystems, harming the organisms that rely on seagrass meadows. Additionally, the destruction of seagrasses would have a significant economic impact, valued at a loss of US $19,002 per hectare per year.2

Mean long-term rates of carbon sequestration in soils in terrestrial forests and sediments in vegetated coastal ecosystems
What causes habitat destruction?

Over the last forty years, seagrass and kelp ecosystems have faced extreme losses. This is due to a multitude of reasons: pollution, urbanization, industry, physical disturbances, invasive species, and global climate change. The increase in coastal development and organic runoff has resulted in significant damages to near shore habitats. Oftentimes a combination of anthropogenic and natural stressors result in the degradation of seagrass habitats.

Click here to watch our panel-style interview with researchers Kelly Darnell & Adam Obaza who discuss environmental stressors for seagrasses in their respective regions of the US.

Why is restoration necessary?

Natural recovery of seagrass ecosystems is slow, which is why the restoration of these habitats is necessary. Habitats created through restoration project efforts have been shown to both benefit wildlife as well as physical coastal environments. Restoration efforts such as the Living Shorelines project - which combined eelgrass planting with oyster habitat restoration - were shown to increase both the biodiversity of aquatic organisms and decrease the energy from wave action. This resulted in less destruction and erosion of the coastal habitat, which in turn allowed the shoreline to rise along with the sea level. Rebuilding these marine habitats helps to foster flourishing aquatic ecosystems which benefit our economies and environments alike.

In Chesapeake Bay, a combination of sedimentation and nutrient enrichment resulted in poorer water quality and therefore impacted the loss of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV)3.

Brooke Landry, an SAV biologist involved in the region, explains how restoration projects not only improve aquatic ecosystems but also engage local communities in an interview with our team.

Restoration efforts have proven successful in a variety of locations and through a variety of methods. Click here for an in-depth look into the scientific techniques used to analyze, heal, and rebuild aquatic habitats.

Dive into our Restoration Project Map to explore habitat renewal missions across the United States.