Alexander Knorrn

Biodiversity investigations of seagrass meadows and cold water reefs of Mauritania

Marine benthic communities living in three-dimensional structures built mostly by sessile suspension feeders or plants, the so-called marine forests, are among the most diverse ecosystems on this planet. They play a crucial role in providing planetary ecosystem services. In order to create an effective management plan, it is important to study these ecosystems and their biodiversity comprehensively. Off the coast of Mauritania, one of the highest biodiversity levels on the planet can be observed. This incredibly high biodiversity is formed by organisms from tropical, subtropical and temperate areas which overlap in their distributions around the Mauritanian coast. In order to create a solid baseline for future marine management plans, the biodiversity of the Mauritanian marine forests (in particular seagrass beds and deep-water coral reefs) will be estimated through metabarcoding of environmental DNA (eDNA) available in seawater and marine sediments. This PhD-Project will also investigate ancient biodiversity of the Mauritanian coastline and reef sites over several geological time series through the analysis of sedimentary ancient eDNA. These investigations are embedded in the EU project RESTORESEAS – Nature-based tools to protect and restore biodiversity. The results help to characterise the actual health status of marine forests in the Atlantic Ocean and support new management plans in order to protect and treat these areas sustainably.