An overlooked "ugly duckling" of the sea could be the key to slowing climate change, Queensland scientists say.
But the team from The University of Queensland says global warming itself and associated rises in sea levels are killing off the potential saviour - seagrass meadows.
UQ Global Climate Change Institute researcher Dr Megan Saunders says seagrass areas are being reduced by about seven per cent every year and that will accelerate due to sea level rises.
Dr Saunders says the environmental importance of seagrass meadows - on which dugong feed - is often overlooked.
"Compared to coral reefs, seagrasses are the ugly duckling of marine ecosystems," she said in a statement.
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"They get nowhere near the publicity they deserve - yet they are vital both to the oceans and to humanity."
Dr Saunders said seagrasses trap an estimated 48-112 million tonnes of carbon a year and without them, carbon would be pumped back into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming.
"Equally, if we can stabilise or even expand the area of seagrass beds globally, they can lock up an awful lot of carbon and help slow climate change - as well as restoring degraded fisheries," she said.
Dr Saunders and her colleagues used a wetland area in Moreton Bay in southeast Queensland to investigate the effects of sea level rises on seagrass meadows.
The biggest one was loss of sunlight, she said.
As waters deepen, they would become murkier and deprive seagrasses of the light they need to survive.
Dr Saunders says controlling erosion and run-off in river catchments and having local authorities adopt more flexible coastal development guidelines to allow for seagrass meadow expansion as sea levels rise will help the vital plants prosper.
