Loading…

Habitat Features and Their Influence on the Restoration Potential of Marine Habitats in Europe

Loading DOI record...

Habitat Features and Their Influence on the Restoration Potential of Marine Habitats in Europe

DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00184

Type: Publication

Year: 2020

Citations: 43

AZORES DEEP-SEA RESEARCH
Publication Open access April 2020

Habitat Features and Their Influence on the Restoration Potential of Marine Habitats in Europe

Frontiers in Marine Science

10.3389/fmars.2020.00184
Open DOI
Total authors
25
Involved team members
2
Citations
43
References
118

Citations by year

7 years
2026
1
2025
7
2024
5
2023
7
2022
9
2021
10
2020
4

Related to this work

MERCES

Abstract

To understand the restoration potential of degraded habitats, it is important to know the key processes and habitat features that allow for recovery after disturbance. As part of the EU (Horizon 2020) funded MERCES project, a group of European experts compiled and assessed current knowledge, from both past and ongoing restoration efforts, within the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the North-East Atlantic Ocean. The aim was to provide an expert judgement of how different habitat features could impact restoration success and enhance the recovery of marine habitats. A set of biological and ecological features (i.e. life-history traits, population connectivity, spatial distribution, structural complexity and the potential for regime shifts) were identified and scored according to their contribution to the successful accomplishment of habitat restoration for five habitats: seagrass meadows, kelp forests, Cystoseira macroalgal beds, coralligenous assemblages and cold-water coral habitats. The expert group concluded that most of the kelp forests features facilitate successful restoration, while the features for the coralligenous assemblages and the cold-water coral habitat did not promote successful restoration. For the other habitats the conclusions were much more variable. The lack of knowledge on the relationship between acting pressures and resulting changes in the ecological state of habitats is a major challenge for implementing restoration actions. This paper provides an overview of essential features that can affect restoration success in marine habitats of key importance for valuable ecosystem services

Authors

2 involved team members
D
Dario Fiorentino
0000-0003-1097-4784

Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

+1 more

C
Chris J. Mcowen
0000-0003-4840-2167

The United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom

C
Christoffer Boström
0000-0003-2845-8331

Environmental and Marine Biology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

C
Cristina Linares
0000-0003-3855-2743

Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute for Research on Biodiversity, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

E
Elizabeth Grace Tunka Bengil
0000-0002-0071-3786

Mediterranean Conservation Society, İzmir, Turkey

+1 more

M
Meri Bilan
0000-0002-5447-4370

Instituto do Mar, Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Centro OKEANOS, Universidade dos Açores, Horta, Portugal

E
Emma Cebrian
0000-0001-7588-0135

Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CEAB-CSIC), Blanes, Spain

+2 more

K
Karine Gagnon
0000-0002-0971-7740

Environmental and Marine Biology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

C
Cristina Gambi
0000-0001-6160-6004

Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy

S
Silvija Kipson
0000-0001-8313-9881

Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Record details

Type
article
Language
EN
Volume
7
ISSN
2296-7745

Keywords

Habitat Fishery Environmental science Marine habitats Ecology Geography Biology

Follow us on social media to stay updated

Governo dos Açores
Oceano Azul
Eurofleets
FCT
FCT Investigador
Governo dos Açores
Portugal 2020
Rolex
RP
RP Ciência
União Europeia
Governo dos Açores
Oceano Azul
Eurofleets
FCT
FCT Investigador
Governo dos Açores
Portugal 2020
Rolex
RP
RP Ciência
União Europeia

Location

Institute of Marine Sciences — Okeanos, University of the Azores

Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas — Universidade dos Açores

Rua Prof. Doutor Frederico Machado, No. 4
9901-862 Horta, Portugal

Contact

Email: azoresdeepsea@gmail.com

FOLLOW US —
ADSR

AZORES DEEP-SEA RESEARCH © 2020-2026 — RELEASE 2.1

Developed by Valter Medeiros VALTER MEDEIROS