A restoration project is often judged by how many plants survived the first year. That is a start, not a result. Success is measured against a reference site and over a time span that matches the species — years for seagrasses, decades for some corals.
Restoration is not complete when the planting ends; it is complete when the ecosystem no longer needs us.
What to monitor
- Survival and cover of the restored species.
- Structure: density, height, patchiness.
- Function: associated fauna, sediment stability.
- The same indicators at an untouched reference site.
Evidence
- Review What makes marine restoration succeed? A review (sample) A synthesis of factors linked to long-term restoration outcomes. Open in the catalogue
- Case study Posidonia transplantation in a Ligurian bay (sample case study) Five years of monitoring a small-scale seagrass transplantation. Open in the catalogue
- Paper Global analysis of seagrass restoration: the importance of large-scale planting What predicts the survival of seagrass restoration trials worldwide. Sample record that shows how a paper with a DOI appears. Open in the catalogue