Research projects span seagrass ecology, coastal restoration, hydrodynamics, blue carbon, and drone-based monitoring, from the Swedish west coast to the Canary Islands and international partners. Below is a selection of current and past funded projects, including EU Horizon and national grants.
Eduardo Infantes
University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Research Projects
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PI: Per-Olav Moksnes
Co-applicants:
- Marlene Jahnke
- Eduardo Infantes
- Lena Gipperth
- Louise Eriander
- Elina Lampi
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Eduardo Infantes
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Eduardo Infantes
Dense seagrass meadows facilitate their own growth by improving light conditions – they attenuate currents and waves, trap suspended particles and stabilize sediments. If such a system is perturbed to a degree that it cannot maintain suitable conditions, a threshold for collapse is reached beyond which natural recovery becomes extremely difficult. Although this theory is now well-developed, quantitative assessment of feedback strength and related consequences are lacking. This project aims to empirically quantify how much vegetation can be lost before a system collapse and how much should be revegetated to improve the water quality for seagrass recovery. Novel insights about seagrass-sediment-hydrodynamic interactions will be achieved combining field data, experiments and an empirically parameterized numerical model.
Dr. Per-Olav Moksnes (Gothenburg University)
Dr. Tjeerd Bouma (NIOZ, Netherlands)
Dr. Marieke van Katwijk and Dr. Tjisse van de Heide (Radboud University, Netherlands)
Funds have been also provided by Längmanska Kulturfonden, the Royal Society of Arts and Science in Goteborg, Helge Ax:Son Johnsson Stiftelsen, Birgit och Birger Wahlstrom Minnesfond.
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Eduardo Infantes
This project aims to assess if eelgrass meadows (Zostera marina L.) attenuate wave conditions in Scania, southern Sweden, a region with growing problems with coastal erosion. It also aims to increase the knowledge of eelgrass meadows in high energy environments, which are threatened by climate change, but understudied today.
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Eduardo Infantes
This project is focused on the acquisition of images using unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles to develop an innovative tool for mapping and monitoring coastal areas using drones. The aim of this project is to develop cost-effective tools for monitoring coastal areas using aerial and submersible drones. Techniques for surveying and monitoring the cover extend of coastal habitats and maximum depth distribution of vegetation will be develop. We will use as an example coastal areas in the Swedish West Coast such as the Gullmars Fjord, Marstrand area and Kosterhavet National Park.
The Kosterhavet National Park is a marine national park with the aim of maintaining the biodiversity of the area. The management plan for the park contains a lot of conservation goals and one is to maintain and increase the l such as Zostera marina (eelgrass) beds in the park. In 2008, mapping of the eelgrass beds was carried before the establishment of the park, but no mapping has been done after that. It is now time to reinvestigate the areas of eelgrass and look for the actual distribution in the national park.
Anita Tullrot, Kosterhavet National Park.
Per-Olav Moksnes, University of Gothenburg.
Lars-Ove Loo, University of Gothenburg.
Elena Tamarit, University of Gothenburg.
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Principal Investigator: Dr. P-O Moksnes
Assess the capacity of long-term carbon and nitrogen storage in the sediment of eelgrass meadows along the Swedish west coast, and the fate of the organic rich sediment when an eelgrass meadow is lost.
Dr. Eduardo Infantes, Louise Eriander (Dept. Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
Dr. Christoffer Boström and Emilia Röhr (Åbo Akademi University, Finland)
Dr. Marianne Holmer (University of Southern, Denmark)
Dr. Johan Eklöf (Stockholm University, Sweden)
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Per-Olav Moksnes
The project aims are: 1) assess processes that prevent recovery and restoration of eelgrass, 2) develop oceanographic and economic model tools for eelgrass management, and 3) produce detailed handbooks and instructions videos about eelgrass restoration in Sweden.
Prof. Lena Gipperth, Dr. Eduardo Infantes, Dr. Scott Cole, Kristjan Lass, Louise Eriander and Dr. Per Jonsson (University of Gothenburg)
Jonas Stenström (Untamed Science).
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Per-Olav Moksnes
Eelgrass beds play a key role in Swedish coastal ecosystems for marine biodiversity and natural resources by providing habitat and food for a number of organisms, including several commercial species. These ecosystems are presently impacted by eutrophication, and over 50% of the eelgrass has been lost from the Swedish NW coast. Because of slow horizontal growth and possibly due to local regime shifts, natural recovery of eelgrass may not occur even if growing conditions improve. The main goal of the proposed project is to assess if transplantation of live eelgrass could be used for restoration of eelgrass ecosystems in Sweden, both to restore eelgrass in areas where it has been lost, and to establish eelgrass in new areas to compensate for habitat lost to coastal exploitation. Using a multidisciplinary team of scientist and managers, and a combination of model and empirical studies, we aim to (1) identify environmental threshold conditions for eelgrass survival, and potential feed-back mechanism that prevent the return of eelgrass, and (2) evaluate a number transplantation methods successfully used in other parts of the world to find the best methods for Swedish conditions. Based on these results, and in dialog with coastal managers, we will develop a detailed management guideline regarding methods for site-selection, transplantation and evaluation of results for eelgrass restoration in Sweden.
Prof. Lena Gipperth, Dr. Eduardo Infantes, Dr. Scott Cole, Kristjan Lass, Louise Eriander (University of Gothenburg)
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Jorge Terrados
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Jorge Terrados
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Jorge Terrados
Contact: eduardo.infantes [at] ulpgc.es