Green seaweed replaces seagrass, but slugs pose new threats

Seagrasses are critical to coastal ecosystems—offering habitat, stabilizing the seafloor and buffering wave energy—but globally they're increasingly under threat. Beginning in 2011, a series of intense algal blooms—fueled by pollution and nutrient overload—wiped out vast stretches of vital seagrass beds in Florida's Indian River Lagoon (IRL).