SeaStore: Diversity Enhancement Through Seagrass Restoration
Short description
Seagrass meadows promote biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services (ESS) such as carbon sequestration and sediment stabilisation, which is important for coastal protection. While past seagrass declines in German coastal waters have come to a halt, natural recolonization of meadows is slow due to dispersal limitation and non-linearities for successful establishment. SeaStore will advance active marine habitat restoration and provide the scientific basis for a robust and scientifically sound re-establishment of seagrass in Southern Baltic waters. Based on the identification of dominant factors within the ecological niche, including the microbiome, a restoration facilitator will be developed to support establishment will be developed and tested. Also, the impact of natural and restored seagrass meadows will be assessed in terms of ESS and ecological value. In addition, an economic assessment of the ESS will be carried out to estimate the cost of habitat loss compared to investments in the restoration of the same ecological functions and ESS. This cost estimate will be accompanied by activities to increase the acceptance of seagrass meadows and their ESS in order to increase the willingness to invest in the restoration of these important habitats. By coupling the biodiversity associated with seagrass meadows with ESS (e.g. sediment stabilization) in models, this project contributes to the research priorities II (biodiversity and food webs), III (ecosystem-based coastal protection) and I (Climate and Coastal Dynamics). The resulting tools and models will support decision makers in planning seagrass restoration and provide information material for coastal communities wishing to raise awareness for seagrass meadows and their ESS in coastal protection and adaptation to climate change.
Funding period:
11/2020 - 10/2023
Coordinator: Ludwig Franzius Institute for Hydraulic, Estuarine and Coastal Engineering, Leibniz University Hannover
Project partner:
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
- University of Greifswald
- TU Braunschweig
- Institute for the World Economy
Website: https://www.seegraswiesen.de/en/
Contact:
- Project leader
Dr. Maike Paul
Ludwig Franzius Institute for Hydraulic, Estuarine and Coastal Engineering, Leibniz University Hannover
Nienburger Str. 4
30167 Hannover, Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 511 762 2584
paul@lufi.uni-hannover.de - Project coordination
Mareike Taphorn
taphorn@lufi.uni-hannover.de