The second fieldwork campaign of the European project RESTORE4Cs took place from 23 to 25 of January 2024 in Ria de Aveiro. RESTORE4Cs – Modelling Restoration of wetlands for Carbon pathways, Climate Change mitigation and adaptation, ecosystem services, and biodiversity, Co-benefits – follows a transdisciplinary approach to assess the impact of European coastal wetlands restoration on climate change mitigation, adaptation, ecosystem services and biodiversity.
This fieldwork campaign corresponds to the winter season, as these campaigns are conducted every three months for a year to cover seasonal variability. The team gathered experts from the University of Aveiro (CESAM), University of Valencia, University of Barcelona, WasserCluster Lunz Research Centre (University of Vienna) and from the National Research Council (CNR, Italy). Researchers measured greenhouse gases exchange rates of altered, restored, and intact seagrass beds of Ria de Aveiro, during high and low tide, to determine the role of their status on carbon dynamics. Ultimately, data collected will help unravelling the impact of restoration actions on the capacity of wetlands to mitigate climate change.
Ria de Aveiro is one of the 6 case pilots studied by RESTORE4Cs, representing an Atlantic-European biogeographical region. The other case pilots identified by the project are the Valencian Wetlands and Camargue (Mediterranean), South-West Dutch Delta (Atlantic), Curonian Lagoon (Baltic) and Danube Delta (Black Sea).
More information about the project and the 6 case pilots can be found on the website at www.restore4cs.eu or on the CESAM page here.
Text by: Patrícia Silva