Acronym RESTORESEAS
Category
Marine Biotechnology
Title Marine Forests of animals, plants and algae: nature-based tools to protect and restore biodiversity Programme International Cooperation
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National-European Coordinator Ester A Serrao Coordinator email eserrao@ualg.pt
Coordinator institution
CCMAR - Center of Marine Sciences (Portugal)
Institutions involved
NA - Chouaib Doukkali University (Morocco) ,
UFES - Federal University of Espírito Santo (Brazil) ,
UFSC - Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil) ,
UGent - Ghent University (Belgium) ,
NA - Mendel University in Brno (Czech Republic) ,
NHM - Museum of Natural History Vienna (Austria) ,
NORCE - Norwegian Research Centre (Norway) ,
SNG - Senckenberg Nature Research Society (Germany) ,
UGOT - University of Gothenburg (Sweden) ,
ULPGC - University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) ,
UAC - University of the Azores (Portugal) ,
VUA - VU University Amesterdam (Netherlands) ,
Start year 2022 End year 2025 Funding (€) € 1,998,129 Website https://www.biodiversa.eu/2022/10/25/restoreseas/ Summary RESTORESEAS studies the biological and biophysical processes at stake of the key species involved in these hypotheses in the Atlantic Ocean, and their interactions to help determine the effectiveness of restoration and conservation action. The project aims to further the scientific understanding of the role played by specific, genetic and functional diversity in marine forest ecosystems of the Atlantic Ocean, with a focus on seaweed, seagrass and corals. Building upon novel hypotheses, experimentation on propagation, indicators and global models will permit the assessment of the conditions for large scale conservation and restoration approaches.
RESTORESEAS will test the role of different species, their associated microbiomes, as well as functional diversity, in order to reveal the state of marine forests, their unique biodiversity and their patterns across sites and across time in order to embrace the intricacies and dynamics of microbial communities present in natural populations of habitat forming seaweeds, seagrasses and corals. Rather than focusing on the restoration of keystone species, these approaches will help determine critical sizes for ecosystem stability and allow the quantification of long-term outcomes of conservation and restoration approaches.
The use of novel indicator tools of ecosystem function and diversity (genetic tools), historical trends (sediment cores and future models), carbon sequestration, comparing temporal trajectories and baselines will provide the knowledge necessary to implement effective conservation and restoration policies of keystone habitats. This would also help improving management practices for conservation and restoration, that will be planned to account for climate change, extreme events, and diseases.
Working both empirically at a local scale and with large scale models and global data, RESTORESEAS will also provide information on conditions for effective conservation and restoration at different scales, that can be adapted.
Keywords
Genetic;
Habitat enhancement;
Microbiome;
Seagrass;
Restoration;
Indicators;
Corals;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
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