This sub-action A2.2 Ex-Ante Monitoring Mar Menor is framed within the LIFE-Transfer project and will be carried out once at all of study sites, before the start of the transplant operations. The focus aim of this sub-action is the definition of the environmental conditions before transplant of angiosperms at the study site with the same parameters to be used in ex-post monitoring.
The Mar Menor lagoon were surveyed by the UMU researchers during July and August 2021, to determine their initial conditions of donor and receiving sites before transplantation begins.
Sediment, water, macroalgae and fauna samples were collected. In addition, physico-chemical parameters were measured in the water column, including: visibility, temperature, depth, salinity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH and chlorophyll-α and pheopigments. At the moment, the laboratory analyses are being carried out.
The variables analyzed are:
- Sediment (humidity, porosity and density, total, inorganic and organic carbon, total nitrogen, total, inorganic and organic phosphorus, percentage of fine fraction and organic matter
- Water column (suspended solids, chlorophyll-α, nutrients (ammonium, oxidized nitrogen, dissolved inorganic phosphorous and dissolved silicates)
- Macrobenthic fauna (M-AMBI/BITS index)
- Macrophyte analysis by application of MaQI.
