Changes in submersed vegetation: assessing loss in ecosystem services from frondose to depauperate systems dominated by opportunistic vegetation
Informations
- Funding country
Portugal- Acronym
- ECOSUBVEG
- URL
- -
- Start date
- 1/1/2013
- End date
- 12/31/2013
- Budget
- -
Fundings
| Name | Role | Start | End | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEST initiative - supporting biodiversity in the Outermost Regions and Overseas Countries and Territories | Grant | - | - | - |
Abstract
On coastal areas of the world, frondose vegetation (e.g. sea grasses and large brown macroalgae) exert a paramount role on community structure and function including increasing habitat complexity, protecting coastlines, filtering terrestrial run-off, sequestering and storing carbon, sequestering nutrients, and providing food and shelter for fish. Conservation and restoration of these ecosystems is important as they are currently declining worldwide. The aim of the project is to empirically quantify changes in the magnitude of ecosystem services, including supply of primary production, provision of habitat for epifauna, quality of food for epifauna, provision of habitat for juvenile fishes, and water clarity, between frondose vegetated systems and those dominated by opportunistic vegetation within three Outermost Regions: Canaries, Azores and Guadeloupe Island (Lesser Antilles).