We thought it was about time to scale up our marine rewilding efforts which is why we have decided to build our very own kelp factory! Together with Seaforester and IPL we are embarking on a journey to build a kelp nursery and test an innovative restoration technique at scale.

🌊 🌱 Learn more about us and the Mossy Earth Membership:
https://mossy.earth/?utm_source=youtu...

🙌 Subscribe to Mossy Earth: https://www.youtube.com/c/MossyEarth?...

💪 OUR PARTNERS
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MARE-IPLeiria https://mare.ipleiria.pt/
SeaForester https://seaforester.org/

START REWILDING OUR PLANET TODAY
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With us, you will restore nature and fight climate change every month
🌲 Plant native trees to capture carbon
🐺 Rewild habitats to support biodiversity
🐉 Support underfunded species and ecosystems
Become a Mossy Earth Member: https://mossy.earth/?utm_source=youtu...

⏱️TIMESTAMPS⏱️
0:00 intro
1:42 Why bring back kelp?
2:02 Kelp distribution and decline
2:51 Restoration trial results
3:50 Green gravel technique
5:07 Starting a bigger experiment

🔎 ABOUT THIS PROJECT
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Since 2020 we have been working with SeaForester to restore kelp forests in Portugal. These underwater forests are astonishing havens for marine life which also improve water quality and sequester carbon. Unfortunately, large areas of kelp have disappeared from the coast of Portugal but reverting this trend has been difficult. One of the challenges is that restoration efforts tend to require extensive diving which quickly becomes costly and time-consuming. A new technique called “green gravel” has been developed to address this challenge and make large scale marine reforestation possible. It involves growing kelp attached to pebbles in a lab before deploying them at suitable locations in the ocean. For this project, we are building a kelp nursery that will allow us to test this method on a larger scale.

➡️ Read all about this project here:
https://mossy.earth/projects/rewildin...

🎥 Kelp videos provided by:
Alvaro Gallego
João Nuno Franco
Jan Verbeek
Inês Louro

📚 Citations List:
de Visser S., Thébault E., de Ruiter P.C.,2012. Ecosystem Engineers, Keystone Species. In: Meyers R.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-08...

Araújo, R.M., Assis, J., Aguillar, R. et al., 2016. Status, trends and drivers of kelp forests in Europe: an expert assessment. Biodiversity Conservation,25, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-11...

Fredriksen, S., Filbee-Dexter, K., Norderhaug, K.M. et al.,2020. Green gravel: a novel restoration tool to combat kelp forest decline. Sci Rep 10, 3983. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60...

Eger, A. M., Layton, C., McHugh, T. A, Gleason, M., and Eddy, N.,2022. Kelp Restoration Guidebook: Lessons Learned from Kelp Projects Around the World. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA. https://www.scienceforconservation.or...

Teagle, H., Hawkins, S., Moore, P. and Smale, D., 2017. The role of kelp species as biogenic habitat formers in coastal marine ecosystems. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 492, pp.81-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2017....