In this project we study the evolution of benthic biodiversity in marine littoral bottoms of Spanish National Parks affected by invasive species in a climate change context.
Long term monitoring of biological and ecological parameters is a key aspect to evaluate changes and impacts in biological communities. It is also crucial for an adequate and correct management to guarantee the conservation of communities and ecosystems. In this project we continue the genetic, ecological, and environmental monitoring of benthic communities in two marine National Parks, The Cabrera Archipelago marine-terrestrial National Park and the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park.
Genetic studies of the benthic communities in these two parks started in 2014 and, in the case of Cabrera National Park, an ecological monitoring of algal communities has been conducted since 2005 and continuous temperature recordings since 2007.
The project has three main goals:
- Ecological and environmental study of invasive algae and their patterns of distribution and abundance in the National Parks.
- Genetic study of benthic communities affected by invasive algae.
- Study and monitoring of seagrass beds of Posidonia oceanica, and the impacts of storms in these communities.
With this project we will obtain information of the evolution of the marine biodiversity inside the Parks on a temporal scale of 15 years for the ecological dataset(2005-2020) and 6 years in the case of genetic records(2014-2020)
With the data gathered we plan to model the expansion and evolution of marine seaweed invasions in the Parks’s communities using biotic and abiotic parameters. This will allow us to predict and manage alterations in these communities caused by the invasive species in a context of global warming.
