Line of action:

Marine ecosystems

Status:

Finalizado

Execution date:

2021

Total budget:

136.889,22€

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

88.800 €

According to the University of La Laguna, recent studies indicate the important potential of Cymodocea nodosa meadows as a carbon sink (“vulnerable”, Habitat-UE-1110-RedNatura2000, IEHEM-030508), having lost about a third of its area. The entity proposes this project to promote the conservation and restoration of Cymodocea nodosa meadows, with the objective of updating their ecological status and mapping, identifying potential restoration areas and conducting pilot tests. These results, they say, will be essential for future conservation and restoration plans.

The main objective of the project has been to promote the conservation and restoration of the sebadales, the seagrass meadows of the marine phanerogam Cymodocea nodosa in the Canary Islands, in line with the needs identified and the approaches specified in national (Marine Environment Protection Act, Strategic Plan for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, Priority Action Framework 2021-2027) and European (MSFD, Green Pact, Biodiversity Strategy 2030, Habitats Directive – Natura 2000 Network) policies and plans, potentially extrapolated and scalable to the rest of the species’ distribution areas.

The specific objectives are:

• Update the cartography of the selected grasslands, generating a simple and standardized mapping, in accordance with the GIS Protocol of the LIFE-IP-INTEMARES project, useful in future conservation and restoration programs.
• Determine the conservation status and potential value of the selected grasslands by estimating their ecological status, potential for resilience and ecosystem services, and economic value.
• Identify potential areas for restoration of Cymodocea nodosa meadows in the vicinity of the areas studied, generating a methodology that can be extrapolated to other areas and/or species of marine phanerogams.
• Develop a protocol for restoration of Cymodocea nodosa grasslands useful in the development of restoration plans and specific training programs, and conduct restoration pilot tests.
• Elaborate a monitoring program for grasslands of the Cymodocea nodosa standardized, useful for monitoring the state of conservation and restoration actions, based on a certified citizen science network, integrated in the program promoted by the alliance between the LIFE-IP-INTEMARES project and the citizen science platform “Observers of the Sea”.
• Propose protection measures The project will also include specific measures to restore the remaining grasslands to a favorable conservation status, with an associated monitoring plan based on the certified citizen science network.

• Bibliographic review of the specific cartographies available for each of the selected grasslands. Correction of the maps obtained (bibliography) of the selected grasslands that present a higher degree of uncertainty through sampling (e.g., images, diving).

• Preparation of the specific updated and definitive cartography of the selected grasslands, in accordance with the GIS Protocol of the LIFE-IP-INTEMARES project.

• Literature review, where available, of the ecological status, resilience potential, ecosystem services and economic value of each of the selected grasslands.

• Update or, failing that, determination of the ecological status (WFD) of the selected grasslands.

• Determination of the resilience potential of the selected grasslands; identification of the grasslands that function as hotspots of resilience potential among those studied.
• Determination of the ecosystem services and economic value of the selected grasslands; identification, among those studied, of the grasslands that function as hotspots of the ecosystem services evaluated.
• Identification, based on specific updated maps, of grasslands that may be fragmented or in regression.
• Identification of pressures (anthropogenic and natural) existing in each of the grasslands studied, at different scales of action and that could condition the success of restoration actions; generation of maps of pressures and impacts associated with the specific updated cartography in accordance with the GIS Protocol of the LIFE-IP INTEMARES project.
• Contrast of the data resulting from the two previous actions; definition of potential areas for restoration of Cymocedea nodosa meadows in the studied areas based on this contrast.
• Bibliographic review of the different restoration methods of marine phanerogams applicable to Cymodea nodosa and to our work areas and the preparation of a preliminary restoration protocol for the restoration of Cymodocea nodosa ad hoc incorporating the revised methods, in line with the protocols derived from the MERCES project to facilitate their potential use in future grassland conservation and restoration projects. Cymocedea nodosa.
• Execution of the restoration tests following some possibility of the method elaborated ad hoc and monitoring of the success of the pilot restoration tests of Cymodocea nodosa.
• Literature review of existing marine phanerogam monitoring methodologies (MMFM), with particular attention to those specific to Cymodocea nodosa; exploration of standardized MMFM carried out on a large scale (spatial and temporal) such as Seagrass-Watch, SeagrassNet and Project Seagrass.
• Selection of the set of variables that will allow the determination, in grasslands of Cymodocea nodosaThe following are the results of the study: the conservation status; the suitability of the populations for incorporation in restoration programs (donor/recipient) and the evolution/success of restoration experiences; elaboration of a monitoring protocol for Cymodocea nodosa ad hoc including these variables.
• Design of a ” Cymodocea nodosagrassland monitoring training guide”, based on the protocol developed to train and certify related and interested sectors.
• Proposal for a follow-up program based on a certified citizen science network, potentially integrable in RedPromar (marine life monitoring network of the Government of the Canary Islands) or in the citizen science program promoted by the alliance between the LIFE-IP-INTEMARES project and the citizen science platform “Observers of the Sea”, consistent with the lines of good practices collected in the EU-Citizen.Science platform, in connection with the previously studied international monitoring networks, i.e., Seagrass-Watch, SeagrassNet, Project Seagrass that, in the framework of service-learning, in addition to bringing the reality of these valuable systems closer to the population, can potentially promote blue growth in the area where it is carried out.
• Identification, among those studied, of grasslands with unique characteristics that make them potentially resilient and of greater value.
• Proposal of a program of unique protection measures for these meadows to guarantee their conservation.
• Proposal of specific mitigation and/or remediation measures to restore the remaining grasslands to a favorable conservation status, considering the pressures previously identified.
• Proposal of the associated follow-up and surveillance plan based on a potential certified citizen science monitoring network complemented by periodic official monitoring.
• Dissemination and communication of the project.

The project has made it possible to determine the state of conservationThe project also included the development of a study of the ecosystem services they provide and the economic value of the sebadales studied within the framework of the project (two meadows in the SAC ES7010056 Sebadales del Sur de Tenerife and two meadows in the SAC ES7020116 Sebadales de Playa del Inglés), as well as the development of restoration and monitoring protocols, and the proposal of monitoring plans, among other milestones.

The measurement of the CYMOX index has made it possible to determine the ecological status of the grasslands studied, finding grasslands with good, moderate and poor ecological status. The evaluation of the main components of the resilience of Cymodocea nodosa grasslands has allowed the determination of the resilience potential of the grasslands studied, finding low, intermediate and high levels.

The estimation of carbon stocks associated with the grasslands studied has confirmed their role as carbon sinks, finding the maximum average value in the grasslands with the highest level of resilience potential. Fish censuses have made it possible to confirm the contribution of the sebadales studied to local fisheries, finding an important biomass distributed in a total of 21 species, 17 of which are of interest to fishermen.

The calculation of the economic value of the grasslands and SACs studied on the basis of the ecosystem services studied has confirmed their considerable value, exceeding two and a half million euros for both SACs. Two protocols have been developed: one for restoration and the other for monitoring sebadales in the Canary Islands. Associated with the latter protocol, a training guide has been developed for the monitoring of these grasslands within the framework of a certified citizen science network and a monitoring program supported by this network has been proposed.