On September 11th, 2020, 1-2 PM UTC, we dived in the marvellous underwater worlds with Sergio Rossi, Associate Professor at the DiSTeBA (Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali) at the Università del Salento and Visiting Professor at the Universidade Federal do Ceará. He talked about Marine Forests and their Role in the Oceans. The moderator was Eduardo Pereira, Assistant Professor at the University of Minho and a member of IB-S (Institute for Bio-sustainability) and ISISE (Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering).

What is an engineer? A person that solves problems for the community, giving tools and services that improve our lives. A tree or a coral are ecosystem engineering species, they benefit the community, and give also essential ecosystem services to the humans. In the case of the forests of the sea (Marine Forests – MFs): kelp forests, seagrasses, coral reefs, sponge grounds, gorgonian forests, hydrothermal vent associated fauna, etc.) their role is giving shelter and food to other species, promote the reproduction and life cycles of many organisms, transform the hydrodynamics and recycle nutrients, immobilize carbon and promote the biomass of fisheries, create physical barriers against wave action and be biodiversity hotspots…they enhance complexity and functionality that is essential for a healthy community in the benthos and also in the plankton. We are losing the engineers of the sea. Complex systems are vanishing, due to bottom trawling, excess of nutrients, urbanization, overfishing, dredging…and, during the last two-three decades, also due to the acceleration of the impacts of climate change. Twenty years ago, the marine restoration programs to recover MFs were still in a blossom state, applied only in particular places with non-optimized methods. In the decade of the Oceans (2021-2030), a new perspective on the recovery of the ecosystems and the associated biodiversity is flourishing, with new and consolidated protocols that ensure the success in large scale programs. However, most of the society still sees the marine restoration as a distant target from the economic point of view, even if we are aware of the importance of the needed regeneration of our oceans. Sergio Rossi clearly demonstrated that nature-based solutions recovering eco-engineering species may be also a very interesting business opportunity.

Relevant links:

• Underwater Gardens International
• Book Oceans in Decline
• Book Marine Animal Forests

Speaker

Sergio Rossi

Sergio Rossi is a research scientist specializing in marine natural resources and biological oceanography. He is Associate Professor at the DiSTeBA, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali in the Università del Salento, and Visiting Professor at the Universidade Federal do Ceará. He is also invited researcher at the Environmental Science and Technology Institute (ICTA-Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain). His lines of research are elated with Marine Biodiversity and Global Change can be synthesized as:

1. Studying the role of environmental and biological factors of the water column on the distribution, nutritional condition and survival of benthic organisms to increase the knowledge and tools for coastal management.
2. Studying the physiology and trophic ecology of benthic in front of global change.
3. Underwater mapping and distribution of benthic suspension feeders through remote and deep diving techniques (Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) crossing experimental information with seascape methods to understand energy fluxes in the benthos, carbon sink role of the benthic suspension feeders and the anthropogenic impacts on benthic populations.
4. Conservation and restoration research on marine biodiversity in coastal areas. 5) Marine ecosystem services and environmental education, studying aspects of natural ecosystem and resource management.

He also developed third-generation biofuel (marine microalgae) applied protocols, using all the above-mentioned knowledge and my network to make a realistic approach to this energy alternative. Lastly, but just as important, his job as a scientific journalist, reflected in his collaborations with several journals and magazines, demonstrates my strong commitment with scientific outreach (also reflected in eco-thrillers and books for kids). Oceans in decline (Springer-Nature, Copernicus series) and The forgotten continent: visions about Antarctica (Tusquets) are critical essay books that are a strong examples of my efforts to communicate science to a wide audience in a rigorous, but easily comprehendible way.

Moderator

Eduardo Pereira

Eduardo Pereira holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Minho and the Technical University of Denmark. As Assistant Professor at the University of Minho and a member of IB-S (Institute for Bio-sustainability) and ISISE (Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering), he is specialized in the development and design of smart cementitious composites and structures for severe environments. He is currently coordinating from ISISE the Structured Project NEXT-SEA (Monitoring and Management of Coastal Ecosystems in a Scenario of Global Change), which deals with the development of new generation materials and structural systems for the construction of autonomous biomimetic and bio receptive artificial reefs, with self-monitoring and self-repairing. He is also a member of the OMARE team, in the context of which he is responsible for the development of spatial information systems, decision support and management of coastal systems in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), as well as the design and monitoring of a pilot area in the park that will include prototypes of multifunctional artificial reefs.

He is also collaborating with the GOAP (Global Ocean Accounting Platform) created in the context of the statistical division of ESCAP – United Nations for next generation sustainable development models for the Oceans, Oceans Accounting. He is involved in the IB-S hub of the AIR Center (Atlantic Interactions Research Center), which is developing a partnership between the Atlantic countries to promote their sustainable development centred on the Atlantic. Over the past 15 years, he has participated in numerous research and innovation projects together with Industry, supervised several Master and PhD students, and co-authored more than 100 scientific publications, including indexed scientific books and journals.

Acknowledgements

This session would not have been possible without the introductions and constant support from Ozilea Menezes and Marcelo Soares from LABOMAR. They both are very, very effective “serial networkers”.

We will continue with the Networking Fridays during the next months. More information about future sessions as well as presentations and videos from previous sessions can be found here. Twitter Hashtag: #netfridays. Expect some very exciting afternoons, or mornings or evenings, depending on where you are…

If you need any additional information please send an email to Jose Luiz Moutinho.