MARURBE

Sustainable Urban Development: solutions to promote the biological and conservation value of marine urban structures

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Urbanization has been historically widespread and one of the leading causes for habitat and species loss in coastal waters. Today 22,000 km2 of the European coastlines are covered by urban marine structures such as marinas, breakwaters, and seawalls, and development is expected to increase further. However, understanding and mitigating the effects of urban structures on marine life have not been a top priority in marine science and conservation. MarUrbe aims to encourage sustainable management of coastal urban structures by acquiring and disseminating knowledge on methods to promote desired species or prevent nuisance species in order to meet specific management goals, including 1) mitigating loss of species with high conservation value (e.g. Cystoseira spp.), 2) monitoring/controlling the spread of invasive/nuisance species, 3) enhancing fishery resources (e.g. mussels, crabs, and fish stocks) and 4) improving water quality. These goals will be achieved by: 1) exploring, through monitoring and experiments, the relationships between the characteristics of urban marine structures, species distribution and ecological functioning; 2) experimentally testing the effects of fine structural modifications to urban marine structures on the distribution of target species and 3) open communication with the public, local authorities and the scientific community. Expected deliverables include baseline information on the relationships between structure and ecological functioning of urban marine structures, protocols for enhancing or restricting the abundance of target species, and site-specific management guidelines. The links between MarUrbe and the inter-disciplinary international and national research initiatives in which the host laboratory is involved, will be one of the keys to the successful transfer of knowledge and establishment of collaboration, and will contribute greatly to my own scientific knowledge and career.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

As the urbanisation of coastal areas is only expected to increase in the coming years, it is imperative that we look after the sensitive ecosystems we share this space with. Important feedback from a research project funded by the EU will help us to become better neighbours.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Europe is home to miles and miles of beautiful coastline, especially in the Mediterranean region. Many settlements established in ancient times have since evolved into full-fledged metropolitan areas, complete with urban marine structures such as ports, marinas, seawalls and so on. To date, little work has been done to assess the impact of these structures on the marine ecosystem.

This challenge was taken up by the 'Sustainable urban development: solutions to promote the biological and conservation value of marine urban structures' (Marurbe) project. Experiments were carried out to investigate the ability of beneficial marine algae, Cystoseira barbata, and an undesirable, invasive tunicate, better known as a sea squirt, to establish themselves.

C. barbata populations are on the decline, but during Marurbe it was discovered that it could readily survive and reproduce on urban marine structures. In fact, structures with complex architecture may actually facilitate the growth of C. barbata. On the other hand, tunicates fare equally well on both naturally occurring and manmade reefs, though native species of sea squirts prefer the former.

To complete the picture, the impact of the detritus of two of the most common inhabitants of urban marine structures, sea lettuce, Ulva spp., and the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, was studied. Both types of detritus are deposited on the nearby seafloor, but their influence on the amount and types of macrofauna found therein is totally different.

This finding emphasises the fact that urban marine structures must be carefully managed in order to control their influence on the marine ecosystem. Furthermore, the Marurbe results suggest that a site-specific approach should be developed and applied in order to obtain the best results.