Objective Urbanization has been historically widespread and one of the leading causes for habitat and species loss in coastal waters. Today 22,000 km2 of the European coastlines are covered by urban marine structures such as marinas, breakwaters, and seawalls, and development is expected to increase further. However, understanding and mitigating the effects of urban structures on marine life have not been a top priority in marine science and conservation. MarUrbe aims to encourage sustainable management of coastal urban structures by acquiring and disseminating knowledge on methods to promote desired species or prevent nuisance species in order to meet specific management goals, including 1) mitigating loss of species with high conservation value (e.g. Cystoseira spp.), 2) monitoring/controlling the spread of invasive/nuisance species, 3) enhancing fishery resources (e.g. mussels, crabs, and fish stocks) and 4) improving water quality. These goals will be achieved by: 1) exploring, through monitoring and experiments, the relationships between the characteristics of urban marine structures, species distribution and ecological functioning; 2) experimentally testing the effects of fine structural modifications to urban marine structures on the distribution of target species and 3) open communication with the public, local authorities and the scientific community. Expected deliverables include baseline information on the relationships between structure and ecological functioning of urban marine structures, protocols for enhancing or restricting the abundance of target species, and site-specific management guidelines. The links between MarUrbe and the inter-disciplinary international and national research initiatives in which the host laboratory is involved, will be one of the keys to the successful transfer of knowledge and establishment of collaboration, and will contribute greatly to my own scientific knowledge and career. Fields of science agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesfisheriesnatural sciencesearth and related environmental scienceshydrologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesoceanography Keywords Adriatic Sea Artificial habitats benthic communities coastal protection ecosystem functioning invasive species restoration sustainable management urban ecology Programme(s) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) PEOPLE-2007-2-1.IEF - Marie Curie Action: "Intra-European Fellowships for Career Development" Call for proposal FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF) Coordinator ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA EU contribution € 171 469,36 Address VIA ZAMBONI 33 40126 Bologna Italy See on map Region Nord-Est Emilia-Romagna Bologna Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Laura Airoldi (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data