Affiliation:
1. Department of Environmental Biology Sapienza University of Rome Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5 00185 Rome Italy
2. CIBM Consorzio per il Centro Interuniversitario di Biologia Marina ed Ecologia Applicata “G. Bacci” Viale N. Sauro 4 I‐57128 Livorno Italy
3. Poliservizi Srl Via di Sant'Andrea delle Fratte 24 00187 Rome Italy
Abstract
Seagrasses provide key ecological services in coastal marine and estuarine environments. Human activities and environmental changes affect seagrasses compromising their structure and functioning. In this context, seagrass restoration has become a worldwide priority to halt and reverse degradation and to recover ecosystem functionality and associated services. Here, we investigate the sexual reproduction of Posidonia oceanica by describing the flowering and fruiting process. Furthermore, we compare the structural (survival and shoot density) and functional (daily leaf production, DLP) descriptors of seedlings with those derived from a P. oceanica transplantation performed through cuttings to assess their feasibility as an integrative source of vegetal material for restoration purposes. Despite many initial flowers and fruits, a small number of mature fruits are produced, confirming the low reproductive success of the phanerogam. A comparison of structural and functional features showed that seedlings and cuttings showed similar survival and shoot density rates after more than 2 years. In addition, DLP showed that seedlings increased in leaf length over the study period, reaching a similar value registered by cuttings. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of using seedlings in restoration efforts. It also emphasizes the importance of exploring P. oceanica reproductive ecology to better understand temporal and spatial variations in flowering, as well as fruiting success, at local and basin scales.