The initiative, in which the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) participates, will promote the protection, recovery and preservation of these ecologically important communities.
Cold-water coral reefs play a key role in the ocean, acting as architects of deep-sea ecosystems and providing refuge for numerous species. In fact, the European Union's Habitats Directive considers them ecosystems of “exceptional ecological value”, although up to now they have rarely been the object of LIFE projects.
With the aim of deepening the knowledge of these communities, the ICM-CSIC now participates in the LIFE-DREAM project, a European initiative led by the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) that will focus, for the next 4 years, on the study and restoration of these ecosystems, strongly impacted by the effects of climate change, fishing and marine pollution.
The project will be developed in four areas of interest in the Mediterranean: the Monopoli platform and the Bari Canyon, in the southern Adriatic; the Dohrn Canyon, in the Tyrrhenian Sea; the Seco de los Olivos seamount, in the Alboran Sea; the Alonisos National Marine Park and the Northern Sporades Islands, on the continental shelf of the Aegean Sea.
“It is very important to understand the ecology and conservation status of these ecosystems, as they play a key role in maintaining global biodiversity and acting as CO2 sinks”, explains Claudio Lo Iacono, one of the ICM-CSIC project coordinators.
In this sense, Jorge Guillén, who also participates in the initiative, adds that "the LIFE-DREAM project will allow us to generate maps of the anthropogenic impact on these communities, which wants to help improve their management and conservation."
Several oceanographic campaigns are planned within the framework of this project, that will allow to collect information and integrate it into a single repository to obtain a global picture of the state of Cold-Water Corals in the Mediterranean Sea. Likewise, the project contemplates the removal of marine debris during these field surveys, along with the installation of artificial reefs that contribute to the recovery of these communities.
Several renowned research institutions participate in the project such as the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), the Stazione Zoologica A. Dohrn (SZN), the Polytechnic University of Marche (UNIVPM), the University of Bari (UNIBA), the University of Naples Federico II (UNINA), the Hellenic Center for Marine Research (HCMR) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), through the ICM-CSIC. In addition, marine conservation organizations such as the OCEANA Foundation or UNEP/MAP, among others, collaborate.