One hundred priority questions for advancing seagrass conservation in Europe

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  • Lina Mtwana Nordlund
    Uppsala University
  • Richard K. F. Unsworth
    Swansea University
  • Sieglind Wallner-Hahn
    Uppsala University
  • Lavenia Ratnarajah
    Integrated Marine Observing System, Hobart
  • Pedro Beca-Carretero
    Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (IIM-CSIC)
  • Elmira Boikova
    University of Latvia, Riga
  • James C. Bull
    Swansea University
  • Rosa M. Chefaoui
    Instituto de Investigación en Cambio Global (IICG-URJC)
  • Carmen B. de los Santos
    Centre of Marine Sciences of Algarve
  • Karine Gagnon
    Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Norway.
  • Joxe Mikel Garmendia
    AZTI- BRTA (Marine Research), Pasaia, Spain
  • Francesca Gizzi
    MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET
  • Laura L. Govers
    University of Groningen
  • Camilla Gustafsson
    University of Helsinki
  • Elitsa Hineva
    Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
  • Eduardo Infantes
    University of Gothenburg
  • João Canning-Clode
    MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET
  • Marlene Jahnke
    University of Gothenburg
  • Periklis Kleitou
    Marine and Environmental Research (MER) Lab
  • Hilary Kennedy
  • Stefania Klayn
    Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
  • Tiia Moller
    University of Tartu
  • João Monteiro
    MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET
  • Nerea Piñeiro-Juncal
    University of Aveiro
  • Emanuele Ponis
    Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research
  • Vasillis Papathanasiou
    Fisheries Research Institute, Greece
  • Dimitris Poursanidis
    Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas
  • Riccardo Pieraccini
    Ghent University
  • Oscar Serrano
    Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Blanes
  • Ana. I. Sousa
    University of Aveiro
  • Susanne Schäfer
    MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET
  • Francesca Rossi
    Dipartimento di Ecologia Marina IntegrataGenoa Marine Centre (GMC)
  • D. Sebastian Storey
    University of Oldenburg
  • Marieke M. van Katwijk
    Radboud University Nijmegen
  • Dave Wall
    National Biodiversity Data Centre, Carriganore, Co. Waterford, Ireland
  • Emma A. Ward
    University of Portsmouth
  • Robert Wilkes
    National Biodiversity Data Centre, Carriganore, Co. Waterford, Ireland
Societal Impact Statement Seagrass ecosystems are of fundamental importance to our planet and wellbeing. Seagrasses are marine flowering plants, which engineer ecosystems that provide a multitude of ecosystem services, for example, blue foods and carbon sequestration. Seagrass ecosystems have largely been degraded across much of their global range. There is now increasing interest in the conservation and restoration of these systems, particularly in the context of the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis. The collation of 100 questions from experts across Europe could, if answered, improve our ability to conserve and restore these systems by facilitating a fundamental shift in the success of such work. Summary Seagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services including biodiversity, coastal protection, and carbon sequestration. In Europe, seagrasses can be found in shallow sheltered waters along coastlines, in estuaries lagoons, and around islands, but their distribution has declined. Factors such as poor water quality, coastal modification, mechanical damage, overfishing, land-sea interactions, climate change and disease have reduced the coverage of Europe’s seagrasses necessitating their recovery. Research, monitoring and conservation efforts on seagrass ecosystems in Europe are mostly uncoordinated and biased towards certain species and regions, resulting in inadequate delivery of critical information for their management. Here, we aim to identify the 100 priority questions, that if addressed would strongly advance seagrass monitoring, research and conservation in Europe. Using a Delphi method, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with seagrass experience from across Europe and with diverse seagrass expertise participated in the process that involved the formulation of research questions, a voting process and an online workshop to identify the final list of the 100 questions. The final list of questions covers areas across nine themes: Biodiversity Ecology; Ecosystem services; Blue carbon; Fishery support; Drivers, Threats, Resilience Response; Monitoring Assessment; Conservation Restoration; Governance, Policy Management; and Communication. Answering these questions will fill current knowledge gaps and place European seagrass onto a positive trajectory of recovery.

Keywords

  • aquatic environment, biodiversity, blue carbon, communication, Delphi method, ecosystem services, eelgrass, monitoring
Original languageUnknown
Pages (from-to)587-603
Number of pages17
JournalPlants, People, Planet
Volume6
Issue number3
Early online date8 Feb 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2024
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