Marine Seagrasses Transplantation in Confined and Coastal Adriatic Environments: Methods and Results

The anthropogenic pressures of the twentieth century have seriously endangered the Mediterranean coastal zone; as a consequence, marine seagrass habitats have strongly retreated, mostly those of Posidonia oceanica. For this reason, over time, restoration programs have been put in place through transplantation activities, with different success. These actions have also been conducted with other Mediterranean marine seagrasses. The results of numerous transplanting operations conducted in the Northern Adriatic Sea and lagoons with Cymodocea nodosa, Zostera marina and Z. noltei and in the Central and Southern Adriatic Sea with P. oceanica (only within the project Interreg SASPAS), are herein presented and compared, taking also into account the presence of extensive meadows of C. nodosa, Z. marina and Z. noltei, along the North Adriatic coasts and lagoons.

Automated summary

Anthropogenic pressures in the twentieth century have greatly endangered the Mediterranean coastal zone and led to significant retreat of marine seagrass habitats, particularly those of Posidonia oceanica. Restoration programs through transplantation activities have been implemented with varying degrees of success, including on other Mediterranean marine seagrasses.