The red coral colonies that were transplanted a decade ago on the seabed of the Medes Islands have survived successfully.
The red coral colonies that were transplanted a decade ago on the seabed of the Medes Islands have survived successfully. They are very similar to the original communities and have contributed to the recovery of the functioning of the coral reef, a habitat where species usually grow very slowly. Thus, these colonies, seized years ago from illegal fishing, have found a second chance to survive, thanks to the restoration actions of the University of Barcelona teams, in collaboration with the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM - CSIC), to transplant seized corals and mitigate the impact of poaching.
These results are now presented in an article in the journal Science Advances. Its main authors are the experts Cristina Linares and Yanis Zentner, from the UB’s Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio), and Joaquim Garrabou, from the ICM (of the Spanish National Research Centre, CSIC).
The findings indicate that actions to replant corals seized by the rural corps from poachers are effective not only in the short term — the first results were published after four years — but also in the long term, i.e. ten years after they have been initiated. Under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) and the European Union’s Nature Restoration Act, the paper stands out as one of the few research studies that has evaluated the success of long-term restoration in the marine ecosystem.
Read more at University of Barcelona
Image: The study confirms the success of some actions to restore corals seized from poaching — actions promoted by the UB and the ICM (CSIC) — which have allowed both the survival of the transplanted corals and the rapid recovery of the associated coral community. (Credit: MedRecover Research Group)
