The Largest Plant In The World: Self-Cloning Seagrass In Australia
In Shark Bay, off the westernmost tip of Australia, seagrass beds litter the ocean floor, rippling the current and being gnawed on by dugongs, cousins of the Florida manatees. A new study has revealed something unexpected about these sea grasses. Many of them are the same single plant that has been cloning itself for about 4,500 years.
This species is called Poseidon’s ribbon grass, and researchers say it has spread over the last 4,500 years to cover an area the size of Cincinnati.
While some of Shark Bay’s northern grasslands reproduce sexually, the rest of Posidonia clone themselves by creating new shoots that branch off from the root system. Even individual meadows were genetically identical, indicating that they were once connected by cut roots. Based on the age of the bay and the growth rate of the sea grasses, the researchers suggest that the Shark Bay clone is about 4,500 years old.
In addition to being a clone, grass appears to be a hybrid of two species and has two complete sets of chromosomes, which is called polyploidy. While polyploidy can be fatal in animal embryos, it can be harmless or even beneficial in plants. However, it can lead to sterility. Most clone grass does not bloom and can only reproduce by continuing to clone itself.
