What are marine forests? Marine forests are biodiverse-rich ecosystems engineered by key structural taxa of macroalgae, seagrass and corals. Depending on the keystone taxa, we can separate them in three main ecosystems: seaweed banks, seagrass meadows and coral reefs. Seagrass meadows Seagrasses are marine flowering plants rooted to the seafloor. They can grow over large areas, creating...
When people think of coral reefs, they usually imagine warm, shallow tropical waters; not cold, dark deep ocean waters. But there are coral reefs living in the dark at the bottom of the ocean as well. They are hard to access and not as vibrant as their warm-water relatives, still they harbor almost as many species and serve as nursery grounds for many commercially important fish [1]. These...
With the ability of building complex 3D habitats, corals as sessile animals harbor high levels of biodiversity, similar to plants on land. While iconic ecosystems like tropical coral reefs and seagrass meadows occur in light-flooded zones of the ocean, deep coral assemblages populate oceanic regions where light is scarce or even absent, and therefore remain entirely out of sight. Together with...
The Centre of Marine Sciences in Faro (Portugal) is working with local stakeholders, especially fishing communities, to develop effective tools for the restoration of temperate coral habitats occurring from 30-200 m depth.
Visitors of the Natural Hisotry Museum in Vienna got to “restore” corals at a coral restoration station, during the annual event of the Long Night of the Museums.
It is super exciting to see our project RESTORESEAS showcased in the new Brazil exhibition at the Natural History Museum Vienna! This exhibition explores 200 years of historical relationships between Brazil and Austria