Environmental restoration by aquatic angiosperm transplants in transitional water systems: The Venice Lagoon as a case study

The paper reports the results obtained after 4 years of aquatic angiosperm transplants in areas of the Venice Lagoon (North Adriatic Sea, Mediterranean) where meadows almost disappeared due to eutrophication, pollution and overexploitation of clam resources. The project LIFE12 NAT/IT/000331-SeResto, funded by the European Union, allowed to recolonize the Habitat 1150* (coastal lagoons) in the northernmost part of the lagoon, by extensive manual transplants of small sods or single rhizomes of Zostera marina, Zostera noltei, Ruppia cirrhosa and, in some stations also of Cymodocea nodosa. Over the 4 years of the project more than 75,000 rhizomes were transplanted in 35 stations with the support of local stakeholders (fishermen, hunters and sport clubs). Plants took root in 32 stations forming extensive meadows on a surface of approx. 10 km2 even if some failures were recorded in areas affected by outflows of freshwater rich in nutrients and suspended particulate matter. The rapid recovery of the ecological status of the involved areas was the result of this meadow restoration, which was in compliance with Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/EC) objectives. Moreover, the monitoring of environmental parameters in the water column and in surface sediments allowed to identify the best conditions for successful transplants. Small, widespread interventions and the participation of local stakeholders in the environmental recovery, make this action economically cheap and easily transposable in other similar environments.