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Seagrass meadows are globally one of the most important marine ecosystems. Seagrasses sustain ecological services with a high economical value, and constitute critical link between different coastal ecosystems. As seagrasses are lost at accelerating rates due to human activities, there is a large demand of joint efforts if we are to understand and protect seagrasses. This can only be achieved by interdisciplinarity, increased training opportunities, and co-operation between research groups with different expertise.

While we can trace the roots of European seagrass research back more than one hundred years to Nordic coastal waters, seagrasses in Scandinavia and across the globe unfortunately still lack attention compared to many other marine key ecosystems. The NSN provides a valuable platform for concerted actions within research, teaching and student exchange. More importantly, the science produced has a large potential to contribute significantly to our understanding and thus management of coastal waters.

The specific goals of the Nordic Seagrass Network (NSN) are to

  1. increase our understanding of Nordic seagrass ecosystems,
  2. facilitate exchange of ideas and methodologies,
  3. improve the quantity and quality of research training at all levels, and
  4. stimulate co-operation that aid in solving complex ecological problems.