The ninth monitoring station for oceanic posidonia is installed in Calahonda, Málaga

"It captures carbon at higher rates than a Mediterranean forest of the same size; mitigates global warming and removes carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere; serves as a nursery for juvenile fish of commercially valuable species such as gilthead bream, groupers, combers, and occasionally red mullets; mitigates coastal erosion; and requires clean waters, which is a mark of quality." These 'magical' properties belong to a marine flowering plant that is as "unique in the world" as it is "endemic" to the Mediterranean waters, known as Posidonia oceanica. Speaking is Elena Bañares, Associate Professor at the Department of Botany and Plant Physiology of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Málaga (UMA), who recently participated in setting up a monitoring station for this species, which is found in meadows and is considered the oldest living organism on the planet.

The station, named POS_39, has been installed near the Calahonda tower in Mijas, and is the thirty-ninth in Andalusia and the ninth in the province of Málaga as part of POSIMED, a monitoring program for Posidonia oceanica meadows driven by the Junta de Andalucía. In the case of POS_39, the work is carried out with the participation of Produnas, an association founded to preserve, protect, and restore the last dunes remaining in Marbella from what was once an intact dune belt from Cabopino to Río Real, but which has also discovered previously unknown meadows of this species.

The Western Boundary

The Andalusian paradise of Posidonia oceanica is in Cabo de Gata, where expanses of these marine plants are measured in hectares. "Almería holds 99 percent of Andalusia's Posidonia oceanica," Bañares clarifies, but the value of the Malaga meadows is that they are located at their western distribution limit, in waters with clear Atlantic influence. "The station will measure the density and coverage of the meadow to see if there are variations and what its health status is, because just like when we see a muddy area on a soccer field and it tells us that the grass is not well, the same happens in a Posidonia meadow," explains the UMA professor. The device also records, for example, whether flowering events occur or if sedimentation covers the meadow.

The "supervision" of the station, data collection, and "continuous" monitoring will be managed by Produnas, "ensuring that this control point functions correctly and provides key information for conservation," the association points out, celebrating the arrival of POS_39 as "an important step for the monitoring and protection of our coastal marine meadows." This will be done by volunteer divers manually. The data is entered into tables validated by experts and is part of a process involving collaboration between the Junta de Andalucía and the association Hombre y Territorio.

The information gathered by the POSIMED network, which has been operational for nearly 30 years and collecting data since 2009, "helps," as Bañares points out, "in the management and conservation of this species" that contributes to the health of the planet and our coasts.