Restoration efforts of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica: a collated evidence review dataset

Seagrass meadows are important shallow coastal ecosystems due to their
contribution to enhancing biodiversity, nutrient cycling, carbon burial,
and sediment stabilisation, but the maintenance of their integrity has
been threatened by several anthropogenic disturbances. Active restoration
is considered a reliable strategy to enhance recovery of seagrass
ecosystems, and decision making for correct seagrass restoration
management requires relying on valuable information regarding the
effectiveness of past restoration actions and experimental efforts.
Previous experimental efforts and human-mediated active restoration
actions of the slow growing seagrass Posidonia oceanica have been collated
here by combining a literature systematic review and questionnaires
consulting seagrass ecology experts. Overall, the poor consistency of the
available information on P. oceanica restoration may be due to the wide
portfolio of practices and methodologies used in different conditions,
that supports the need of further field manipulative experiments in
various environmental contexts to fill the identified knowledge gaps. The
current situation requires an international, collaborative effort from
scientists and stakeholders to jointly design the future strategy forward
in identifying the best practices that lead to efficient restorations of
P. oceanica habitat and functioning.