Seagrass, a marine plant that flowers underwater, has lots of environmental benefits – from storing carbon to preventing coastal erosion. In this episode, we speak to Isabel Key, a marine ecologist at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, about her work recording the soundscape of Scottish seagrass meadows to uncover more about the creatures living within them.

She also explains how this is the first step in the development of a seagrass sound library and potentially even artificial intelligence tools that could help us better understand the sounds of the sea. 

This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive editor. Full credits available here. Subscribe to a free daily newsletter from The Conversation. To support what we do, please consider donating to The Conversation.

Further reading:

• Seagrass meadows are rapidly expanding near inhabited islands in Maldives – here’s why
• Meet the world’s largest plant: a single seagrass clone stretching 180 km in Western Australia’s Shark Bay
• Seagrass is a marine powerhouse, so why isn’t it on the world’s conservation agenda?