Assessing the expansion and success of a restored population of Gongolaria barbata (Stackhouse) Kuntze (Fucales, Phaeophyceae) using high-precision positioning tools and size distribution frequencies (EN)

BALLESTEROS, ENRIC

MOVILLA, JUANCHO

GRAN, ALICIA

CEFALÌ, MARIA ELENA

GALOBART, CRISTINA

BOLADO, IGNACIO

SALES, MARTA

Ongoing human pressures over recent decades have caused the loss and ensuing impoverishment of the complexity and diversity of Mediterranean habitats dominated by algal species of the order Fucales. Gongolaria barbata, a habitat-forming Fucales species that has disappeared in several places across the Mediterranean, was reintroduced in a cove (Cala Teulera, Maó Bay, Menorca) where it was known to have been locally extinct for more than 40 years. Reintroduction was performed in 2011 using innovative non-destructive techniques. Here we describe the expansion patterns of the population ten years after its reintroduction, and we look at the size-structure distribution of the restored population compared to one of the only natural populations known in Spain (Fornells Bay, Menorca). Newly settled individuals exhibit a progressive dispersal pattern from restoration sites, favouring rocky substrates at the shallowest level parallel to the shore. The area occupied by G. barbata has increased by almost three orders of magnitude in ten years, from approximately 3.6 m2 of the initially restored area to a current restored area of 2093 m2. Recruits and juveniles dominate the restored population but some individuals have reached large size classes, the overall size distribution resembling the reference population. The high-resolution cartography included in our study enables an accurate mid to long-term assessment of the expansion of G. barbata. Incorporating such tools in restored marine forests would facilitate the implementation of efficient management policies that will help reinforce their conservation (EN)

info:eu-repo/semantics/article

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Fucales (EN)

marine forests (EN)

cartography (EN)

Cystoseira sensu lato (EN)

monitoring (EN)

rocky infralittoral (EN)

Ελληνικό Κέντρο Θαλασσίων Ερευνών (ΕΛΚΕΘΕ)

Mediterranean Marine Science

Research Article

Mediterranean Marine Science

Αγγλική γλώσσα

2022-11-09

https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/hcmr-med-mar-sc/article/view/30500

Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (EN)

1791-6763

1108-393X

Mediterranean Marine Science; Τόμ. 23 Αρ. 4 (2022): VOL 23, No 4 (2022); 907-916 (EL)

Mediterranean Marine Science; Vol. 23 No. 4 (2022): VOL 23, No 4 (2022); 907-916 (EN)

Copyright (c) 2022 Mediterranean Marine Science (EN)