water Review Marine Seagrasses Transplantation in Confined and Coastal Adriatic Environments: Methods and Results Daniele Curiel 1, Sandra Paveli´c 2 , Agata Kovaˇcev 3, Chiara Miotti 1 and Andrea Rismondo 1,* 1 SELC Soc. Coop., Via dell’Elettricità 3/D Marghera-VE, 30175 Venezia, Italy;
[email protected] (D.C.);
[email protected] (C.M.) 2 Faculty of Health Studies, University of Rijeka, Viktora Cara Emina 5, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia;
[email protected] 3 Kornati National Park, Butina 2, 22243 Murter, Croatia;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: The anthropogenic pressures of the twentieth century have seriously endangered the Mediterranean coastal zone; as a consequence, marine seagrass habitats have strongly retreated, mostly those of Posidonia oceanica. For this reason, over time, restoration programs have been put in place through transplantation activities, with different success. These actions have also been conducted with other Mediterranean marine seagrasses. The results of numerous transplanting operations conducted in the Northern Adriatic Sea and lagoons with Cymodocea nodosa, Zostera marina and Z. noltei and in the Central and Southern Adriatic Sea with P. oceanica (only within the project Interreg SASPAS), are herein presented and compared, taking also into account the presence of extensive meadows of C. nodosa, Z. marina and Z. noltei, along the North Adriatic coasts and lagoons. Keywords: seagrass restoration; transplanting; Posidonia oceanica; Cymodocea nodosa Citation: Curiel, D.; Kraljevi´cPaveli´c, S.; Kovaˇcev, A.; Miotti, C.; Rismondo, A. Marine Seagrasses Transplantation in Confined and Coastal Adriatic 1. Introduction Environments: Methods and Results. Water 2021, 13, 2289. https:// Marine seagrasses (MS) are among the most productive and widespread ecosystems doi.org/10.3390/w13162289 from the Tropics to the boreal coasts of any ocean [1,2].