Seagrass meadows promote biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services (ESS) such as carbon sequestration and sediment stabilization, which are of great importance for coastal protection. For this reason, there is great interest in the reintroduction of formerly lost seagrass stocks in the German Baltic Sea. SeaStore 2 creates the scientific basis for this. A decision-making tool is being developed and tested to enable decision-makers to realize the active restoration of these important habitats. In addition to the development of efficient reintroduction methods, the provision of ESS through restored seagrass meadows will also be evaluated. A particular focus is on the greenhouse gas balance of seagrass meadows, the resulting CO2 storage and thus the contribution to natural climate protection. 

This is the focus of the IOW's work. In close cooperation between the IOW and the University of Greifswald (UG), trace gas distributions in the water column (by IOW) and greenhouse gas fluxes (by UG) are determined seasonally at two selected sites in Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Both sampling sites should have areas with long-established vegetation, newly established seagrass meadows and, as a reference, no bottom vegetation in the immediate vicinity. At one of the sites, the shallow water lander systems established at the IOW will also be used to record the short-term variability of greenhouse gas dynamics inside and outside a seagrass meadow using modern sensor technology.  

By integrating a wide variety of data sets, including standard parameters, indicators for greenhouse gas fluxes are to be developed that can be compared with carbon accumulation in order to ultimately estimate the integrated climate impact of the restoration of seagrass meadows.