CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION OF CYSTOSEIRA FORESTS:
FORESTS: THE ROLE OF MPAs
THE ROLE OF MPAs
Mangialajo L., Gianni F., Airoldi L., Bartolini F., Francour P., Giudetti P.,
Meinesz A., Thibaut T., Ballesteros E.
Cystoseira forests loss have been
recorded in several areas
Mediterranean marine forests
formed by Cystoseira species
Major causes of loss
Coastline urbanization
(Habitat destruction, decreased water quality; (Habitat
destruction decreased water quality;
increased sedimentation; barrier for connectivity)
Cormaci &Furnari 1999
Mangialajo et al., 2008
Perkol-Finkel & Airoldi, 2010
Serio et al. 2006
Thibaut et al. 2005
Vukovik 1982
Unregulated / illegal fishery
(i.e. overfishing of sparids; date‐mussel harvesting)
Direct and indirect effects (destruction; proliferation of herbivores)
Flow-chart for the conservation (and reasoned
restoration) of Cystoseira forests
High reproductive potential but
low dispersal ability:
NATURAL RECOVERY UNLIKELY especially when forests are degraded/lost on wide areas
ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION
ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION
Many forests remain
unprotected
u
p otected
First experiments encouraging (Falace et al., 2006; Susini et al., 2007; Perkol‐Finkel and Airoldi
2010; Perkol Finkel et al., 2012)
Which role can play MPAs in the
conservation of Cystoseira forests?
Better
protection from
(some) impacts
The work was realized within the framework of the EU Seventh Framework Program project MMMPA‐Training Network for Monitoring Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas, [grant number 290056] (grants for FG and FB) and CoCoNet [grant number 287844]. It was also partially supported by CIRCE [Agence de l’Eau RMC], Theseus (EU ‐ FP7 ‐ ENV2009‐1 [grant number 244104]), MERMAID (EU FP7 ‐ Ocean ‐ 2011 [grant number 288710]) programs and by a Fulbright Fellowship (LA).
source of
propagules
preferential
sites for
reforestation
Conservation and recovery of marine forests are possible, raising awareness of the importance
of Cystoseira species, reducing impacts and, whenever necessary, adopting restoration actions