Management of beach-dune and coastal wetland systems

 

This is a rather recent research line in which we collaborate with other teams at IMEDEA. With the goal to improve the management of the dune ecosystems, we aim at proposing sustainable alternatives to act against coastal erosion. We began this research participating in a multidisciplinary research project (System Playa de Palma) in which we assessed the biodiversity of three natural zones within the Bay of Palma de Mallorca, with the main goal of advising on future management practices. Here we worked with one of Mallorca´s most endangered plants, Limonium barceloi, studying its reproductive biology (here) and investigating different ways to maintain its remaining unique population (here).  At the dune systems of northern Mallorca we have also been studying how dune erosion influences recruitment and growth of the primary dune vegetation, also trying to evaluate the role that the threatened shrub Juniperus oxycedrus subsp. macrocarpa has on dune establishment (paper currently in press).

At present, we are also collaborating with Núria Marbà (marine biologist) and Maria Antònia Jiménez (meteorologist), investigating the biodiversity of the Posidonia oceanica beach-casts that accumulate in different beaches in Mallorca, assessing the dynamics of such deposits and also trying to build up the trophic web of this particular coastal ecosystem.