Baseline report. Deliverable 2.1 of the LIFE NatuReef project: Nature-based reef solution for coastal protection and marine biodiversity enhancement. LIFE22-NAT-IT-LIFE-NatuReef/101113742

The primary aim of the project work package “Habitat and biodiversity baseline, monitoring, evaluation and KPI” (WP2) is to provide the necessary habitat and biodiversity baseline (ante operam, the condition prior to the activity taking place) of the marine and coastal areas at the Bevano river mouth (Fig. 1) to allow the proper design and implementation of the “basal limestone reef” (WP3) and the superimposed biogenic reefs (WP4). This baseline provides the reference condition for the subsequent habitat and biodiversity monitoring, necessary to evaluate the achievement of the project objectives in terms of habitat and species conservation, and biodiversity and reef restoration (see the Key Performance Indicators - KPI; Ponti 2024). In the first year of the project, a complete characterization of habitats, environmental conditions, communities, and their biodiversity has been carried out within the intervention and monitoring areas of the Bevano river mouth (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). The obtained data and maps define a baseline for the subsequent monitoring and assessment of the achievement of the set objectives. The data needed for properly designing the “basal limestone reef” (WP3) and the biogenic reefs, by seeding native oysters and sabellariid worms (WP4), has been acquired in strict collaboration with the engineers, geologists, and biologists in charge, and transferred to the respective teams as soon as available. All the baseline survey data has been integrated, mapped, analysed, and collected in this baseline report. The baseline includes the following four components, coordinated by PROAMBIENTE and mutually interconnected: ● Terrain and marine morphology ● Metocean conditions ● Evolution of coastline, beach-dune system morphology, and vegetation cover ● Soft bottom habitats, communities, and biodiversity ● Ornithofauna