It’s not just about fieldwork: over the last few months, the REEForest team has been working non-stop, taking part in workshops, conferences and seminars dedicated to marine restoration. The research institutes involved in our project have taken part in national and international meetings to present the results of our project.
Professor Valentina Asnaghi of the University of Genoa took part in the Seaweed4Health scientific conference in Tanzania, presenting a paper entitled: “Beyond regenerative aquaculture: the role of aquaculture in ecological restoration”. The presentation focused on new methods for optimising cultures for ex-situ transplantation of macroalgae, citing as a case study the restoration of Ericaria amentacea in the Bergeggi Island Marine Protected Area.
From the opposite end of Italy, Professor Annalisa Falace and her team from the University of Trieste delivered a presentation on the possible ecological limitations of restoration at the 15th edition of the European Conference on Marine Restoration (SERE) in Brest, entitled “Why marine forest restoration may fail: hidden ecological constraints beyond technical optimisation”.
Finally, researcher Filomena Cerciello and the team from the “Parthenope” University of Naples presented a poster dedicated to the communities of organisms that can survive thanks to the presence of marine forests of macroalgae from the Cystoseira sensu lato group in Cilento at the 35th National Congress of the Italian Society of Ecology (SItE).
Special attention was also paid to the new generations of scientists: Professor Annalisa Falace took part in the autumn summer schools organised respectively by ISPRA and the Miramare Marine Protected Area in Trieste for PhD students and undergraduates, to engage future researchers in marine restoration.
Each meeting was a valuable opportunity for exchange of views with the scientific community, so that we could work together to protect the sea!
