Many thanks to my co-authors
N. Margarit, @graciellarovira.bsky.social, @danigomezgras.bsky.social, and to my supervisors J. Garrabou and C. Linares for entrusting me with this long-term initiative!

@medrecover.bsky.social @ub.edu @irbio-ub.bsky.social ICMCSIC

Our study underscores the role of foundational species like the red coral in shaping their communities, making them key targets for conservation.

It also highlights the need to work at ecologically and temporally relevant scales to assess recovery in restoration initatives.

More importantly, the restored assemblage’s community structure shifted, resembling the reference site in both trait diversity and dominance. This wasn’t just driven by the red coral growth but also the arrival and increase of other species, mainly sponges and cnidarians.🪸

Over the years, transplanted colonies survived and grew steadily! 📈However, both the reference and restored populations remain far from what a pristine red coral population should look like, a sad reality for many C. rubrum populations across the Mediterranean.

A decade ago, over 300 Corallium rubrum colonies were restored, giving a second chance to illegally harvested red coral, provided by Catalan authorities.

Now, we’ve combined population and trait-based approaches to assess not just survival, but long-term functional recovery.