Nature-based tools to

Protect
and restore

biodiversity

7

About Restoreseas

Marine forests are biodiversity-rich ecosystems engineered by key structural taxa of macroalgae, seagrasses and corals. They provide many ecosystem services for humanity, however, they are disappearing at unprecedented rates.

The loss of these marine forests is a catastrophic event, causing loss of ecosystem services that are essential for humanity, including 1) nursery and feeding grounds for many marine species, 2) coastal protection against erosion, 3) counteracting climate change by carbon sequestration.

Yet, out of sight and challenging to reach, below the ocean surface, marine forest restoration is rare, despite massive scales of degradation. RESTORESEAS aims to improve resilience of restoration of marine habitats in the Atlantic coasts, by applying novel nature-based solutions.

Corals

Coral reefs are home to about one fourth of all known marine species.

Seagrasses

Seagrass meadows are more efficient in carbon sequestration (per area) than terrestrial forests.

Seaweeds

Seaweeds are the base for several marine ecosystems, providing food and energy to numerous marine species.

With RESTORESEAS we will bring novelty on how to protect and restore marine forests. We will test, for instance, critical restoration efforts needed to reverse tipping points; we will work on a global scale with real data from many partners and use modelling approaches to create unprecedented predictions of restoration and conservation needs for adaptive traits to be considered in policy planning. We will widely integrate citizens and stakeholders in marine restoration to add educational value and ensure upscaling in space and long-term results.

Ester Serrão, coordinator of the RESTORESEAS project
is a full Professor at the University of Algarve and leads a research team at
CCMAR (Centre of Marine Sciences, in Faro) working on Biogeography, Evolution and Conservation of Marine Biodiversity

Latest News

A Black Coral’s Survival Story

A Black Coral’s Survival Story

Based on: Gouveia, A., Godefroid, M., Dubois, P., Espino, F., Tuya, F., Haroun, R., Herrera, A. and Otero-Ferrer, F., 2023. Thermal stress response of Antipathella wollastoni (Gray, 1857) from the Canary Islands archipelago. Coral Reefs, pp.1-7. In the cool, shadowy...

The Mystery of Seagrass Dispersal: Insights from Halodule wrightii

The Mystery of Seagrass Dispersal: Insights from Halodule wrightii

Based on: Tavares, A.I., Assis, J., Larkin, P.D., Creed, J.C., Magalhães, K., Horta, P., Engelen, A., Cardoso, N., Barbosa, C., Pontes, S. and Regalla, A., 2023. Long range gene flow beyond predictions from oceanographic transport in a tropical marine foundation...

Sampling marine environmental DNA to find out who was there

Sampling marine environmental DNA to find out who was there

All organisms leave a trace of DNA in the environment that they inhabit, including those living in the ocean. We call this type of DNA, environmental DNA (eDNA). Example sources of eDNA include, but are not limited to, faeces, mucus, gametes, shed skin and dead cells....

Exploring the Microbial World for Marine Community Restoration

Exploring the Microbial World for Marine Community Restoration

The recent ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain was an exciting platform for researchers to delve into the fascinating realm of host-microbiome interactions and their role in protecting and restoring marine ecosystems. As the chair of the...

Funding partners