Increase in biodiversity and biomass with Life Boosting Units structures in our marina
Did you know that a year after its installation, up to 56 species have been identified in each Life Boosting Unit, thus beginning the process of regeneration of marine biodiversity? For this reason, every three months each structure continue to be monitored in Cívitas Puerto Banús to find out the results and benefits they are generating.
In November 2022, Cívitas Puerto Banús, in collaboration with Ocean Ecostructures, installed 10 Life Boosting Units structures in different areas of the port that allow the regeneration of marine biodiversity, restoring life and allowing marine infrastructure and damaged environments to be revitalized and recycled.
After 10 months, another monitoring has been carried out on the Life Boosting Units (LBU) structures that were installed in November 2022 at key points within the marina. During the inspection, the Ocean Ecostructures scientific team has identified the species present at each point.
Over the past six months, the communities have been evolving towards more developed stages. The LBUs have been completely colonized by a large number of groups of organisms. Up to 56 different species have been reported growing or interacting with LBU structures.
In the case of mobile organisms, interaction has been considered if their position was less than 0.5m from the structures. The reported figure represents an increase of practically double the number of species compared to the values collected in March (34 species).
The figures observed at the end of May 2023 have doubled in just 3 months, since the previous sampling, in March. This growth is much more evident in Zones 2 and 3, where the dry weight of each LBU reaches 1.8kg/LBU and 1.2kg/LBU, respectively.
What new species have been observed?
Among the species found, the presence of organisms such as cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) can be highlighted, of which eggs were found in several LBUs in Zone 1 and 3 (Image 3H). At the same time, clutches as well as adult specimens of the snail Stramonita haemastoma have also been detected in Zone 3 (Image 3F-G). These findings are relevant since they show that LBU structures have a positive influence on the life cycle of marine species in Civitas Puerto Banús.
The presence and diversity of ichthyofauna (fish) has also increased. Species of blenny fish (Parablennius sp.) have appeared in very abundance in most structures (Image 3A). Bream species such as Diplodus sargus or Diplodus cervinus cervinus with large sizes have also been recorded (Image 3D-E).
In March, a notable presence of the invasive algae Rugulopteryx okamurae was reported. Although this species was also detected in the May sampling, its abundance has decreased in the port as a whole. Its presence in the LBU has been observed in Zones 1 and 2 (Image 3C)
Below, we share a collection of outstanding images from the day: