{"id":26409,"date":"2017-12-01T15:50:27","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T15:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/intercardiff\/?p=26409"},"modified":"2017-12-01T15:50:27","modified_gmt":"2017-12-01T15:50:27","slug":"mobile-app-lets-anybody-become-a-marine-researcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/science-environment\/mobile-app-lets-anybody-become-a-marine-researcher","title":{"rendered":"Mobile app lets anybody become a marine researcher"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Most people have never heard of seagrass meadows. Can a Cardiff mobile app save them?<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_26464\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26464\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-26464 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/12\/SeagrassSpotter1-625x351.png\" alt=\"Seagrass Spotter application on a phone\" width=\"625\" height=\"351\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26464\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26464 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/12\/SeagrassSpotter1-625x351.png\" alt=\"Seagrass Spotter application on a phone\" width=\"625\" height=\"351\" \/><\/noscript> &#8216;Seagrass Spotter&#8217; is a free mobile app which allows anyone to record sightings of the marine flower.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An application made by Cardiff researchers is empowering everyday people to collect important ecological data on unique and endangered underwater meadows.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Seagrass Spotter\u2019 is a mobile app which allows anyone to take and submit photographs of these environmentally crucial plants, allowing scientists to greatly expand their research\u2019s scope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea of the app is anyone can download it, go out into seagrass meadows, take a picture, and it tells us where it\u2019s been taken,\u201d said Dr. Leanne Cullen-Unsworth, co-director of the charity behind the app, Project Seagrass. \u201cIt\u2019s super helpful because one of the big problems with seagrass is that it\u2019s so widespread, and research effort into seagrass meadows is way not enough considering the size and scope of where it is. We just can\u2019t be in every place, all the time, to look at what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_26463\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26463\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-26463 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/12\/seagrass1-625x352.png\" alt=\"Seagrass meadow by the shore\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26463\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26463 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/12\/seagrass1-625x352.png\" alt=\"Seagrass meadow by the shore\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" \/><\/noscript> Seagrass grow in easily accessible sub-tidal and inter-tidal areas, allowing it to be easily observed and photographed from land. \u00a9<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/itsaboyd\/\">Ian Boyd<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As widespread as seagrass is, they were once far more abundant. \u201cEssentially in the 1930s there was a widespread wasting disease that wiped out approximately 50% of Europe\u2019s seagrass,\u201d said Dr. Cullen-Unsworth. \u201cSince then, recovery\u2019s been very much limited. That\u2019s due to lots of things, mainly environmental parameters, water quality and coastal development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Seagrass meadows are crucial environments which reduce global warming by sequestering large volumes of carbon dioxide and supporting hundreds of species, such as cod, crabs, shrimp, turtles and manatees.<\/p>\n<p>The plants are also unique in being the only true marine flowers in existence. Despite looking similar to seaweed, seagrass are actually more closely relate to land grasses and lilies.<\/p>\n<p>Despite their importance, and being the online true marine flowers in existence, seagrass meadows are relatively unknown. Dr. Cullen-Unsworth said, \u201cIt has been phrased as the ugly duckling of the marine environment. It doesn\u2019t get as much attention as something like a coral reef, because at first glance, it\u2019s not as charismatic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_26465\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26465\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-26465 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/12\/seagrass2-625x352.png\" alt=\"Under water image of seagrass meadows\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26465\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26465 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/12\/seagrass2-625x352.png\" alt=\"Under water image of seagrass meadows\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" \/><\/noscript> Only 4% of the estimated 0000 000 km<sup>2<\/sup> of global seagrass meadows have been mapped. \u00a9<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/noaaphotolib\/\">NOAA Photo Library<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The BBC documentary series \u2018Blue Planet 2\u2019 recently featured seagrass meadows in their episode \u2018Green Seas\u2019, which may help bring attention to the habitat and its perilous position.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone interested in <a href=\"https:\/\/seagrassspotter.org\">downloading the app<\/a>\u00a0and becoming a researcher could take a thirty-minute drive to Magor, to visit the largest seagrass meadow near Cardiff. They could also investigate the ones in Milford Haven or Pembrokeshire. Or perhaps one of the app&#8217;s &#8220;citizen scientists&#8221; will be able to discover a whole new meadow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a global resource,\u201d said Dr. Cullen-Unsworth. \u201cIt\u2019s really a crucial habitat that needs to be on people\u2019s agendas. People need to care about it, to start getting it preserved properly.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/itsaboyd\/8858103882\">Seagrass<\/a>&#8221; by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/itsaboyd\/\">Ian Boyd<\/a> is\u00a0licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/noaaphotolib\/5077876455\">sanc0209<\/a>&#8221; by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/noaaphotolib\/\">NOAA Photo Library<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seagrass Spotter\u2019 is a mobile app which allows everyday people to take photos and collect data on an important underwater environment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":26464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-26409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-environment"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - 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