Monitoring activities on Posidonia oceanica meadow have begun in Capo Testa Punta Falcone Marine Protected Area (MPA), Santa Teresa Gallura. In recent days, MEDSEA’s marine team, led by the marine scientific coordinator Francesca Frau, has been conducting survey operations within the waters of the MPA, located at the northern tip of Sardinia, Italy.
MEDSEA team diver conducting research on seagrass meadows as part of monitoring efforts in Capo Testa Punta Falcone Marine Protected Area
This MPA is one of the four Mediterranean pilot sites of the ARTEMIS project, together with the pilot sites in Crete (Greece), Menorca (Spain) and Monfalcone (Italy). The project aims to scale up the restoration activities of seagrass meadows, also by assessing the economic and financial value of the benefits provided by these important ecosystems.
In particular, assessments have been conducted to establish the conditions of the meadow, both in perfectly preserved areas and in degraded ones. Specifically, the MEDSEA team has collected different data to assess the conservation status, biodiversity and Blue Carbon Ecosystem Services of this habitat (i.e macrozoobenthos, presence and abundance of ichthyofauna, and monitored the ‘litter’ (for leaves).
The surveys that the MEDSEA team, supported by the MPA staff, has recently concluded will serve to determine its biodiversity level and the amount of carbon stored by the meadows over more than 100 years of honourable service! These important measurements could bring new insights to what is already partially known in the research field, and within the ARTEMIS project, they will help assign some values in the developing blue carbon market, in support of performance indicators.
MEDSEA team diver conducting research on seagrass meadows as part of monitoring efforts in Capo Testa Punta Falcone Marine Protected Area
“Here in the Capo Testa Punta Falcone MPA, in addition to conducting the tests, we will also restore around 200m² of damaged Posidonia oceanica meadow, the equivalent of more than 2000 cuttings, during the course of the project,” says Francesca Frau, MEDSEA’s marine project coordinator. “This area of Sardinia is particularly well-protected and the meadow in excellent health. However, restoration efforts in this site will focus on an area heavily impacted by human activity, particularly by free anchoring”.
