Seagrasses evolved from terrestrial plants on at least 3 separate occasions. We know that land plants interact with their microbial communities in their soils to recruit symbionts. In this video, EMILIA SOGIN investigates whether seagrasses also retained their interactions with the microbial communities that live in their sediments. Conducting metabolomic analyses of sediment porewater as well as incubation experiments and metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analysis, Sogin notes that seagrasses excrete sugars, in particular sucrose, to their sediments. Further, the microbial communities living in their sediments have a reduced capacity to degrade these sugars. This research highlights the complex interactions seagrasses develop with their sediment microbial communities and the link to the ability of seagrasses to bury carbon.

LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10858