‘Conservation of underwater meadows: the causes of their decreasing size and the effects on ecosystem functions’

Adán Zúñiga Ríos, Andrea Antón Gamazo, Beatriz Rosa Martínez Daranas, Carlos Manuel Duarte Quesada, Esperança Gacia Pasola, Ester Marco Noales, Iris Eline Hendriks, Jason Paul Stutes, Just Cebrián, Lídice Clero Alonso, M. Ester T.A. Serrao, María Milagros López González, Mercedes de la Caridad Cano Mallo, Mónica Ordax Ibáñez, Neus Garcias Bonet, Nuria Marbá Bordalba, Rosa Lucía del Valle García, Salud Deudero Company, Sophie Arnaud-Haond, Susana Enríquez Domínguez, Tomás Miguel Sintes Olives, Zuleika Marcos Sardiñas.

Studies in many areas of the planet show that marine angiosperms are suffering a serious decline. Identifying the causes (e.g. sedimentary dynamics, eutrophication, deteriorating sediment quality, microbial infections, genetic diversity, algal proliferation) and critical disturbance thresholds is vital for the successful management of coastal zones, particularly in view of the growing influx of the human population along the Mediterranean or Caribbean.

The future of underwater meadows also depends on finding early warning tools that can detect areas of decline and allow remedial action to be quickly taken. Further, the conservation status of underwater meadows affects the functions they provide (e.g. marine biodiversity, trophic chains, sediment capture and retention) and thereby the functioning of the coastal zone.

This project seeks to determine the causes of underwater meadow regression, develop early warning techniques for environmental stress, evaluate the conservation status of ecosystem functions and define conservation strategies for meadows growing along the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico coasts. It will provide the scientific input needed for such plans, and strategies for the sustainable management of coastal zones, like those envisaged in the European Commission’s Nature Network 2000 for Sites of Community Importance.