A delegation of researchers from the University of Trieste and Shoreline is on its way to Sardinia where it will collaborate with the Sinis Marine Protected Area and the Italian National Research Council (CNR) of Oristano on “ante-operam” monitoring activities.
It’s going to be a very intense week that will include visits to the donor and recipient sites of Cystoseira, where the researchers will carry out a series of ecological and taxonomic analyses.
The evaluation of both sites, the one from where we collect the fertile apices of the algae thalli and the one where the newborns will be implanted, is a crucial step that precedes any restoration work.
In addition to periodically checking whether the apices from the donor forest have reached maturity before taking some of them for culture, it is also necessary to check the condition of the ecosystem of both sites.
In this way, by characterizing them through photogrammetry, “photosquare”, the use of “sorbons” and visual sampling of fish and other invertebrate organisms, it is possible to know the health of the environment before and after the Cystoseira has been taken and restored.
The assessment provides the certainty of not having impacted with the sampling where the marine forest is present, and the successful planting of the new algae with the consequent improvement in the health of the ecosystem.
Although the place where Cystoseira is harvested and the place where it will be re-planted are not far from each other, environmental conditions can change a lot and monitoring them allows us to always have one’s ear to the ground!
14/02/2023
Trieste-Sardinia
