In the Antilles, the proliferation of sargassum is suffocating mangroves and seagrass beds, “making the space uninhabitable” | EUROtoday

The scourge of the Caribbean islands and a number of other North American coastlines, sargassum causes quite a few well being issues – irritation of the eyes and respiratory tract particularly – for populations uncovered to the fumes of hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and different poisonous gases launched by these sheets of brown algae. Their proliferation, which has elevated massively since 2011 because of modifications in marine currents, local weather change and rising sea temperatures, additionally causes results on pure environments which can be nonetheless poorly understood. In 2025, the prefecture of Guadeloupe requested marine biologists from the University of the Antilles to hold out a examine to measure the influence of the phenomenon on biodiversity.

Unsurprisingly, in keeping with their first observations, mangroves and seagrass meadows – the groupings of underwater crops, which play an important function of refuge and meals for a lot of species – are very altered by brown algae. “Overall, the bacteria that decompose the sargassum when it arrives on the shores consume all the oxygen, making the space uninhabitable for fauna and flora”summarizes Charlotte Dromard, teacher-researcher in marine biology.

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