Our Posidonia oceanica seedlings are growing off the Marine Protected Area of Capo Testa – Punta Falcone, in northern Sardinia. In recent weeks, the MEDSEA team carried out the monitoring of the transplant performed last spring in Santa Teresa Gallura, covering a total surface of 200 m² (around 2000 Posidonia cuttings).
The biologists of the MEDSEA marine unit confirm a survival rate above 80%, a positive result indicating that the local conditions and the adopted transplanting techniques are working.
The restoration of Posidonia oceanica meadows is part of the Interreg Euro-MED ARTEMIS project, which aims to accelerate the recovery of seagrass habitats by developing technical and financial tools to assess the value of their associated ecosystem services.
In parallel, three of the four ARTEMIS pilot sites (Sardinia, Menorca, Crete and a fourth site) are conducting studies on meadow performance in terms of carbon uptake and storage, as well as biodiversity indices, comparing pristine and degraded meadows to assess their ecological condition.
The ARTEMIS project highlights transplanting as a key technical tool to speed up the recovery of damaged meadows. Posidonia oceanica meadows are often affected by incorrect anchoring, which uproots the shoots or creates permanent gaps within the meadow, breaking ecological continuity and reducing natural regeneration capacity. In some cases, illegal trawling further damages the habitat, destroying large areas in a short time and worsening ongoing degradation processes.
In this context, transplanting becomes necessary to rebuild heavily impacted areas, restore plant cover, support the return of ecosystem services, and move the habitat toward a more stable and functional condition.
The mission of ARTEMIS is to develop methodologies, technical tools and financial models that make it possible to scale up seagrass restoration across the Mediterranean, ensuring solid scientific foundations, comparable monitoring, and credible ecosystem-service assessments to inform decisions, investments and long-term interventions.
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