b'SURFACE WATERPhoto: Michael SundmanTo anchor a SonTek Argonaut-ADV in the soft bottom of Humboldt Bay, Joe Tyburczy and Kiana Encinas deploy an instrument package that will float as the tide comes in. They placed an identical package in a nearby eelgrass bed. Waving gently in the shallows of California\'s"Like many green plants, eelgrass Humboldt Bay, meadows grows faster as carbon dioxide levels of eelgrass glow green inincrease," notes California Sea Grant the tides.Extension ecologist Joe Tyburczy at Humboldt State University in Eureka, The long, fluttering leaves of the eelgrassCalifornia. "But unlike green plants do more than shelter and nourish fishthat grow on land, eelgrass takes up and crustaceans in the estuary. LikeCO2 directly from the seawater." trees in the tropical rainforest, eelgrass captures carbon dioxide (CO2) as itIf it could capture enough CO2, photosynthesizes.eelgrass could be recognized as a vital resource in the protected bays where That ability could make eelgrass moreit thrives, and spur efforts to integrate important than ever as CO2 levels climbit into shellfish production where it has in the ocean, acidifying the water andlong been viewed as a competitor for threatening the survival of shellfish andspace by oyster growers.plankton at the bottom of the food chain. Whos Minding the Planet? 39'