Transplantation on a Posidonia oceanica meadow to facilitate its recovery after the Concordia shipwrecking

Abstract

Ecological restoration is an important tool to reverse habitat loss and recover ecosystem services. Here, for two years, we examine the dynamic of Posidonia oceanica following the restoration of a 1149 m² meadow damaged by the Concordia shipwreck. To evaluate the suitability of a recently employed seagrass restoration protocol, we assessed the patches' survival and development by high-spatial resolution photomosaics over the whole transplanted surface. To estimate recovery trajectories, we quantified the cuttings' survival, shoot density, and Daily Leaf Production within fixed monitoring squares. The outcomes confirmed that our protocol could be efficiently applied at larger scales, showing diminutions in cuttings' survival and shoot density over the first year (up to -20%), followed by stability in the number of living cuttings and increases of leaf bundles (up to +5%/year). Our insights demonstrate that the recovery of P. oceanica can be speeded up and underline the need for case-specific transplantation strategies.

Keywords: Meadows decline; Meadows recovery; Posidonia oceanica; Restoration upscaling; Seagrass transplantation.