Seagrass meadows play a key role in the provisioning of ecosystem goods and services. These systems are extremely vulnerable to multiple anthropogenic impacts. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new techniques to efficiently restore degraded seagrass meadows. Here we tested the efficacy and efficiency of a new technique of seagrass transplant (Cymodocea nodosa) using biodegradable containers. We investigated the effects of this transplant technique in the Adriatic Sea comparing the transplanted seagrass meadows with adjacent donor seagrass meadows and bare sediments used as control. We assessed the recovery rates and the ecological implications of this transplant on key ecosystems functions, including the biomass and detritus provision to local biological communities, and the effects on the biodiversity of the associated benthic fauna. Our results show that this restoration technique was successful, enabling the seagrass survival (approximately 30%) even in high-energy conditions occurring in winter. The sediments hosting the transplanted seagrasses showed an increase of trophic availability and of rates of organic matter cycling. Despite this, 1 year after the transplant, the abundance and biodiversity of meiofaunal assemblages in the restored seagrasses were still lower than in donor seagrass meadows. These results indicate that the restoration process of seagrass meadows can take a long time, and that a multilevel approach (including the analysis of biodiversity and of the sedimentary processes and biogeochemical cycles) is needed to assess the success of restoration actions in these habitats.

中文翻译：

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Cymodocea nodosa 海草草甸的恢复：效率和生态影响

海草草甸在提供生态系统产品和服务方面发挥着关键作用。这些系统极易受到多种人为影响。因此，迫切需要开发新技术来有效恢复退化的海草草地。在这里，我们测试了一种新的海草移植技术（Cymodocea nodosa）的功效和效率。) 使用可生物降解的容器。我们研究了这种移植技术在亚得里亚海的效果，将移植的海草草甸与相邻的供体海草草甸和用作对照的裸沉积物进行了比较。我们评估了这种移植对关键生态系统功能的恢复率和生态影响，包括向当地生物群落提供的生物量和碎屑，以及对相关底栖动物群生物多样性的影响。我们的结果表明，这种恢复技术是成功的，即使在冬季发生的高能量条件下，海草也能存活（约 30%）。承载移植海草的沉积物显示出营养可用性和有机物质循环速率的增加。尽管如此，移植后一年，恢复海草中小型动物群落的丰度和生物多样性仍低于捐助海草草甸。这些结果表明，海草草甸的恢复过程可能需要很长时间，需要采用多层次的方法（包括对生物多样性、沉积过程和生物地球化学循环的分析）来评估这些栖息地恢复行动的成功与否。