Under the Seagrass: Conserving Delicate Habitats and Underwater Cultural Heritage

Under the Seagrass was developed as part of a capstone project by Dafna Bimstein for the MAS Marine Biodiversity and Conservation program at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology. As climate change progresses, marine habitats proven to be impactful in the fight against greenhouse gasses, coastal erosion, and biodiversity loss are threatened. One of these marine ecoengineers are seagrass beds, which are often found in locations of interest to marine archaeologists and historians due to the Underwater Cultural Heritage underneath their sediments. In order to study historical sites, which may provide information applicable to future climate change, researchers may need to remove, cut, or damage the seagrass. This can cause conflicts between marine archaeologists and ecologists. This project works to mend and bridge the two fields through collaboration. This project identifies ways to successfully study underwater cultural heritage sites, while mitigating long term seagrass loss.