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STRENGTHENING OCEANOGRAPHY | 73

CYSTOSEIRA, THE ENGINEERS
OF MEDITERRANEAN MARINE FORESTS

• Imagine 40 species of large brown algae endemic to the
Mediterranean forming underwater canopies that undulate
with the currents for several decades. These marine
forests are the most productive ecosystem in temperate
zones and provide numerous services, from oxygen
production to habitat creation, water purification, wave
energy reduction and fishing.

• But as Luisa Passeron-Mangialajo, professor of marine
ecology at the Côte d'Azur University, deplores, these
forests of brown seaweed are shrinking because of
the proliferation of herbivores (sea urchins, saupes and
rabbitfishes), eventually giving way to ecosystem deserts.
In the face of this threat, citizen science can contribute
to their conservation by helping scientists to gain a better © Jordi - Adobe Stock
understanding of their distribution.

THE FERRUGINOUS LIMPET, AN ALMOST EXTINCT
SPECIES IN THE RAMOGE ZONE

• Mariachiara Chiantore, a researcher in environmental sciences at the University
of Genoa, presented the RELIFE project for the repopulation of this giant araped
endemic to the western Mediterranean (Patella ferruginea). Now very rare on
the Ligurian coast and considered almost extinct in the northern Mediterranean,
this species is considered "threatened" by the Bern Convention, the Habitats
Directive, and the Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance
(SPAMI).

• Given the rarity of the gastropod, citizen science allows scientists to be alerted
to the presence of specimens, which are also very easy to detect in the marine
environment. "The RELIFE project could give us a glimpse of its return to the
Côte d'Azur, thanks to juveniles arriving from Corsica or Liguria," explains the
project representative.

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