What has changed is the heat and the impact of humanity. It’s unclear whether seagrass can survive what Florida has become in the 21st century. The vanishing seagrass fits a familiar recent pattern: Between 20, all five of Florida’s major estuaries, including the Indian River Lagoon on the east coast and Tampa Bay on the west coast, suddenly began to suffer seagrass die-offs. And most died of starvation as their main food source, seagrass, had nearly vanished. Most of the sea cows died in the Indian River Lagoon. In the timescale of ecosystems, the collapse of Florida’s seagrass has been sudden, severe and nearly simultaneous.Ī tragic consequence unfolded in 20, when about 2,000 manatees, or a quarter of the population in Florida, died. The die-offs persist, raising the question - can 21st century Florida and seagrass coexist? Editor’s note: This story is the second installment of a two-part series on the catastrophic seagrass die-offs plaguing nearly all of Florida’s coastal waters.
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