Marine Macrophyte Restoration and Restocking

Dear Colleagues,

The conservation of healthy populations of canopy forming seaweeds and seagrasses is key to the functioning of coastal and estuarine ecosystems in addition to the goods and services that these systems provide. During the last century, canopy forming seaweeds and seagrasses have suffered significant declines in their populations, which have been attributed to local and global stressors within a context of global change (e.g., metal contamination, eutrophication, seaweed harvesting, physical damage by trawling, invasions by alien species, introduction of diseases, acidification, climate change). In recent decades, numerous actions have been developed and undertaken to reduce the anthropogenic pressures in coastal and estuarine areas, leading to an enhancement in water quality and a reduction in local anthropogenic pressures. However, despite the enhancement in environmental conditions in many cases, limited or even no recovery of canopy forming seaweed and seagrass populations has been observed.

Canopy forming macrophytes are considered ecosystem engineers, as their presence alter environmental conditions, increasing habitat complexity and reducing physicochemical stresses which, on many occasions, facilitates the settlement of new recruits and other species. When populations of these species decline, negative feedbacks can occur, leading to nonlinear responses and community shifts. Once seagrass meadows or seaweed forests disappear, natural recovery can be a slow process, especially in species with limited dispersion growth or recolonization abilities, as in the case for numerous Fucales, Tilopteridales, and Laminariales species or seagrasses. In these cases, restocking, restoration, or reforestation actions can boost the recolonization process if the pressures that produced the decline of the former populations disappear or have been sufficiently reduced. In the case of marine macrophytes, considerable progress has been made over the last few decades; however, the knowledge, methodologies, and techniques to develop large-scale restoration actions are limited in comparison with terrestrial macrophytes. Considering the critical role of this knowledge for the success of the current rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems by the United Nations (i.e., the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration), which will be crucial to achieving the sustainable development goals, we are looking for contributions focused on:

• New methodologies for the restoration of canopy forming seagrasses and seaweeds
• Optimization of culture conditions in the laboratory
• Selection of more resistant strains
• Production of seeds or propagules
• Translocation experiments
• Restoration and/or rehabilitation experiences
• Protocols for the monitoring of the success of restorations actions
• Modelling approaches used to identify suitable areas for restoration and to monitor changes over long time scales
• Regional and local studies focused on genetic connectivity of marine macrophytes with interest for restoration actions
• Historical distribution of macrophytes with interest for restoration at scales larger than 500 km
• Other studies that can help to increase the success of restoration actions

Dr. Bermejo Ricardo
Dr. Beca-Carretero Pedro
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• cultivation
• restocking
• restoration
• seagrass
• seaweed
• marine macrophyte