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Found on seabeds from Alaska to Australia, seagrass meadows are one of the most widespread coastal habitats on Earth. While they cover just one thousandth of the ocean floor, these marine plants play an important role in aquatic ecosystems — from providing nursery grounds for marine species, to storing up to 18% of the ocean's carbon.
But this vital underwater habitat is in decline — with a loss of about 7% a year globally — due to factors like coastal development, climate change, overfishing and pollution.
ReefGen, a company that's working to repopulate lost seagrass habitats around the globe, wants to help. Five years ago, ReefGen was formed by Google X cofounder Tom Chi, who witnessed the decline of coral reefs close to his home in Hawaii and turned to engineering and robotics for solutions.
ReefGen first engineered a robot named Cora that plants coral plugs onto reefs to help regenerate them. Cora provided the foundation for Grasshopper – the startup's seagrass planting iteration.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📸: CNN
