Maria C. Uyarra

• PhD
• Researcher at AZTI

Marine ecosystem services provide multiple benefits and hold significant economic value; however, the capacity of the marine environment to provide ecosystem services can be compromised by anthropogenic pressures. To ensure proper environmental conditions and human well-being, it is necessary to study the functioning of marine ecosystem services. I...

Human activities at sea can produce pressures and cumulative effects on ecosystem components that need to be monitored and assessed in a cost-effective manner. Five Horizon European projects have joined forces to collaboratively increase our knowledge and skills to monitor and assess the ocean in an innovative way, assisting managers and policy-mak...

Human activities at sea can produce pressures and cumulative effects in ecosystem components, that need to be monitored and assessed, in a cost-effective manner. Five Horizon European projects have joined forces to collaboratively increase our knowledge and skills to monitor and assess the ocean in an innovative way, assisting managers and policy-m...

Human activities at sea have increased, causing subsequent degradation of ocean health and affecting ecosystem services and societal goods and benefits. Climate change further exacerbates the cumulative effects of these activities and their associated pressures. Hence, effective management of these multiple activities is imperative to ensure the su...

SafeWAVE Deliverable 7.5, ‘Tailored Ocean Literacy Programmes Focusing on Wave Energy’, uses the framework developed in Deliverable 7.4 to organise an approach for creating education and public engagement (EPE) programmes that are tailored to the specific circumstances in each of the communities of the project’s four member countries – France, Irel...

Despite the benefits of marine renewable energies (MRE) to the decarbonisation, public opposition has often been posed to MRE projects. This opposition is one of the reasons slowing down Europe´s energy transition towards clean energies. Aside from one wave energy production farm operating in Europe, other developments are still at pilot or prototy...

The development and deployment of novel technologies, including those associated with marine renewable energy, are vital for the ongoing decarbonisation of our energy system. However, technology on its own is not sufficient to realise the energy transition away from fossil fuels. Non-technical barriers – such as regulatory, economic, environmental...

Nature-based solutions including urban forests and wetlands can help communities cope better with climate change and other environmental stressors by enhancing social-ecological resilience. Natural ecosystems, settings, elements and affordances can also help individuals become more resilient to various stressors, although the mechanisms underpinnin...

Science alone cannot provide the solutions to the challenges we face - we need wider society to actively contribute. This has pushed forward the need for more ocean literacy. The Scientists for Ocean Literacy project of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 aims to empower scientists to actively engage with society an...

Alignment and coordination of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) with other key policies is considered indispensable to accomplish its objectives. To ensure that economic activities do not generate unsustainable pressures in the marine environment, it is imperative to streamline the MSFD with the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (MSP...

Marine Strategy Framework Directive Terminology Definitions and Lists GES4SEAS WP2: Developing the conceptual framework and knowledge base for ecosystem based management Task 2.1. Setting up the state-of-the-art of cumulative pressure impacts and ecosystem management approaches towards achieving Good Environmental Status within the MSFD

Funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and launched in November 2018, the WESE-Wave Energy in Southern Europe project aims to improve the current knowledge on environmental impacts of Wave Energy (WE projects) reducing uncertainty in modelling potential impacts of future wave energy large scale devices deployments to better infor...

In the context of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, 2008/56/EC), Member States are required to assess the environmental status of marine waters. With the aim to support practitioners in this effort, and guide them in the identification of management solutions, a team of researchers has brought together available information fo...

The presentation will showcase the EuroGOOS 'Scientists for Ocean Literacy' project endorsed by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030. The 'Scientists for Ocean Literacy' project aims to empower scientists as ocean advocates to their communities, countries, and regions, and help transform ocean knowledge and awareness...

The emerging marine renewable energy (MRE) industry, also known as ocean energy (mostly wave and tidal energy), yields many unknowns about its potential environmental pressures and impacts. Wave energy converters (WECs) are still perceived by regulators and other stakeholders as risky, particularly for some groups of species and habitats. In many c...

Local, regional and global targets have been set to halt marine biodiversity loss. Europe has set its own policy targets to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of marine ecosystems by implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) across member states. We combined an extensive dataset across five Mediterranean ecoregions including...

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) aims to achieve Good Environmental Status of the European Union’s marine waters for which the EU Member States are preparing Programmes of Measures (PoMs) to coordinate policies and improve the marine environmental status. These Programmes are revised every six years, yet there is currently no co...

Marine ecosystems contribute to human well-being, e.g. through the promotion of nature-based recreational activities such as surfing, which is a benefit obtained from Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES). Our research objective is to identify the benefits and impacts associated to surfing, and who are the main affected subjects and/or objects, achievi...

of the consenting process for ocean energy projects in Spain (left) and Portugal (right). Taken from Simas et al., 2015. Review of consenting processes for ocean energy in selected European Union Member States. International Journal of Marine Energy, 9: (0): 41-59. Wave Energy in the Southern Europe (WESE) Funded by the European Maritime and Fisher...

WESE is a project funded under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund focusing on how to overcome the non-technological barriers related with Wave Energy projects, specifically by carrying out environmental monitoring activities around wave energy converters (WECs) operating at sea, to improve knowledge on environmental pressures and impacts and...

In the context of European WESE project, this presentation includes the main outputs of the analysis and improvement of the consenting process for the Wave Energy Projects in Spain and in Portugal

In the context of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD 2008/56/EC), a multidisciplinary study was carried out, with researchers from different disciplines, bringing together solutions for management practitioners in the Basque coastal zone (SE part of the Bay of Biscay). This area was selected as case-study and divided into Marine Reportin...

In the context of European WESE project, the poster includes the main outputs in relation to analysis and improvement of the consenting proccess for wave energy project in Spain and in Portugal

Despite the clear benefits of marine renewable energies (MRE), opposition has often been posed to MRE development projects. This opposition has hindered and even slowed down the process to Europe´s energy transition towards clean energies. Wave energy is, with a bit more than two decades of modern history, at an early stage of development. So far,...

Galparsoro, I., Á. Borja, I. Menchaca, J. Franco, M. C. Uyarra, A. Uriarte, G. Chust y J. Bald, 2020. Elaboración del diagnóstico sobre el medio marino e identificación de líneas de trabajo futuras para la Estrategia de Biodiversidad de la CAPV 2030. Informe elaborado por AZTI para Ihobe. 96 pp + Anexos.

Currently, although environmental risks associated with the deployment and operation of single MRE devices are very low, the uncertainties associated with commercial arrays will require investigation as larger arrays are deployed. A risk-based approach to survey and consenting is an element of Adaptive Management (AM), which in turn is a structure...

Both public and policymakers require a basic Ocean Literacy to support relevant policies and sustainable economic activities. Without Ocean Literacy it will be impossible to achieve a collective action and behaviour change towards sustained science operations and funding. This policy brief emphasises Ocean Literacy as a strategic activity area in o...

adaptation of NEAT to apply the MSFD guidelines, in Malta

In the last few years, the concept of ecosystem-based approach has led to the need for developing integrative assessments that consider the different ecosystem components all together. In Europe, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) aims at achieving the Good Environmental Status for all regional seas. This requires Member States (MS) to...

There is growing evidence that ecosystem services and especially the exposure to the natural world (blue-green spaces) have potential benefits for mental health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures adopted to control it provide a natural experiment to investigate the links between nature exposure and mental health under extreme co...

A Decision Support Tool (DST) for the identification of the most feasible areas for wave energy projects in the context of maritime spatial planning (MSP), has been developed and implemented. The DST is based on a conceptual model which considers the main environmental, technical, and socio-economic factors that could influence the suitability for...

Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) have been applied worldwide to characterize the critical yet frequently overlooked biodiversity patterns of marine benthic organisms. In order to disentangle the relevance of environmental factors in benthic patterns, here, through standardized metabarcoding protocols, we analyse sessile and mobile (<2 m...

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is the piece of legislation with which the EU aims to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of its seas. This Directive requires Member States (MSs) to set up and implement Programmes of Measures (PoMs) to achieve this goal. This paper presents a catalogue as well as the analysis of the 535 measures...

Various pollutants keep threatening the environmental status of the Mediterranean Sea, while the Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires that Good Environmental Status needs to be achieved in European Seas by 2020. Previous reviews already established that the ambition levels of national Programmes of Measures (PoMs) are low. This study focuse...

Ecological restoration in marine ecosystems is considered strategic to recover environmental conditions and ecosystem services. However, the traditional single-discipline perspectives followed for analyzing the results of both restoration projects (focused in the analysis of biophysical changes) and valuation of ecosystem services (focused in econo...

There is growing evidence that exposure to the natural world (blue-green spaces) has potential benefits for mental health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures adopted to control it provide a natural experiment to investigate the links between nature exposure and mental health under extreme conditions. Using a survey distributed on...

Climate and land-use change drive a suite of stressors that shape ecosystems and interact to yield complex ecological responses, i.e. additive, antagonistic and synergistic effects. Currently we know little about the spatial scale relevant for the outcome of such interactions and about effect sizes. This knowledge gap needs to be filled to underpin...

MEDREGION’s Activity 5 intends to implement the new Good Environmental Status (GES) Decision (European Commission, 2017), for biodiversity descriptors (D) of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD; European Commission, 2008), namely D1 (biodiversity) and D6 (seafloor integrity), proposing a method to integrate the monitoring information to a...

Several international legal agreements and guidelines have set the minimum standards and key principles to guide the implementation of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAFM). However, the implementation of an EAFM in tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) has been patchy and lack a long-term plan, vision and guidance...

Recreational fishing is considered a cultural ecosystem service, important in terms of the socio-economic benefits that it provides. In the Nerbioi estuary (northern Spain), investments in water treatment and the closure of polluting industries have led to several benefits such as improvements in water quality, fish abundance and richness, and recr...

Hard substrata Monitoring Settlement Scientific diving A B S T R A C T We investigated the validity of Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) as monitoring tools for hard bottoms across a wide geographic and environmental range. We deployed 36 ARMS in the northeast Atlantic, northwest Mediterranean, Adriatic and Red Sea at 7-17 m depth. After...

Recreational fishing activity has recovered in the Nerbioi estuary (Northern Spain), after water sanitation and environmental improvement. Recreational fishing is important for the local population; therefore, future management measures that could cause changes in the estuary should also consider the impacts on recreational fishing. Our objective w...

We used different spatial and decadal time series data covering 9 biological and chemical ecosystem components, 24 indicators and 8 descriptors of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), to test its performance under different ecosystem approaches. The results were evaluated in relation to the anthropogenic pressures affecting the study are...

In the Nerbioi estuary (North Spain), the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) constructed in 1990 resulted in an abrupt decrease in water pollution and an opportunity for improved recreational experiences in the three beaches on the estuary. The monetary value of these recreational benefits was estimated using the travel cost method and compared, via...

In a world of declining biodiversity, monitoring is becoming crucial. Molecular methods, such as metabarcoding, have the potential to rapidly expand our knowledge of biodiversity, supporting assessment, management, and conservation. In the marine environment, where hard substrata are more difficult to access than soft bottoms for quantitative ecolo...

According to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (European Union, 2008), the ecosystem-based management of marine systems requires the use of multiple indicators from different ecosystem components. One of the challenges of this use is how to aggregate them to produce a holistic integrative health assessment of large marine areas (Uusitalo et a...

Well-functioning ecosystems hold high values of biodiversity and provide a wide range of ecosystem services. In 25 years, Nerbioi-Ibaizabal estuary (North Spain) has changed from a highly polluted estuary to one with a moderate/good ecological status, mainly due to the construction of a Waste Water Treatment Plant that has operated in the estuary s...

In Europe, the quality of coastal bathing waters improved considerably in the last decades, mainly due to the more demanding legislation and the adoption of water sanitation plans. In the Nerbioi estuary (North Spain), the Wastewater Treatment Plan implemented between 1990 and 2001 resulted on an abrupt decrease in microbial concentration; thus, co...

Canopy-forming macroalgae are experiencing large biogeographical shifts due to climate change. One of them (Gelidium corneum) has shown a dramatic decline in biomass in northern Spain, in the past 20 years. We investigate here two most plausible hypotheses to explain its decline: (i) a combination of increasing wave energy and decrease of irradianc...

In Europe, the quality of coastal bathing waters improved considerably in the last decades, mainly due to a more demanding legislation and to the water sanitation plans adopted. In Nerbioi estuary (North Spain), the Wastewater Treatment Plan implemented between 1990 and 2001, caused an abrupt decrease in microbial concentration, leading to the comp...

In Europe, the quality of coastal bathing waters improved considerably in the last decades, mainly due to a more demanding legislation and to the water sanitation plans adopted. In Nerbioi estuary (North Spain), the Wastewater Treatment Plan implemented between 1990 and 2001, caused an abrupt decrease in microbial concentration, leading to the comp...

Nerbioi estuary (North Spain) moved from being one of the most impacted estuaries in Europe, in the 20th Century, to a nearly recovered system, mainly due to the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) that started in 1990. The three beaches located within the estuary, after suffering from severe water pollution for decades, nowadays comply with the European B...

Coastal areas support human well-being and livelihood by providing ‘ecosystem services’, including provisioning goods, regulation services and recreational opportunities. The interactions between Human and Natural Capital are complex, since human activities highly rely on the quality of resources but can also have an impact on them. Therefore, unde...

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires member states to manage their marine ecosystems with the goal of achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) of all European Seas by 2020. Member states assess GES according to 11 descriptors set out in the MSFD, and their associated indicators. An ecosystem service approach is increasingly b...

In the previous report (D4.1, September 2016) we have developed predictive linkages between indicators of environmental quality and ecosystem services, and different types of pressures, single or multiple, across river basins from all over Europe, in a latitudinal and a west-east gradient, and having very different conditions of climate and land us...

Wide-ranging, indicator-based assessments of large, complex ecosystems are playing an increasing role in guiding environmental policy and management. An example is the EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which requires Member States to take measures to reach “good environmental status” (GES) in European marine waters. However, formulation of...

A Catalogue of Marine Biodiversity Indicators was developed with the aim of providing the basis for assessing the environmental status of the marine ecosystems. Useful for the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), this catalogue allows the navigation of a database of indicators mostly related to biological diversity, non...

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires Member States to assess the costs and benefits of Programmes of Measures (PoMs) put in place to ensure that European marine waters achieve Good Environmental Status by 2020. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to carry out such an assessment whereby economic analysis is used to evaluate...

Sustainability of marine ecosystems and their services are dependent on marine biodiversity, which is threatened worldwide. Biodiversity protection is a major target of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, requiring assessment of the status of biodiversity on the level of species, habitats, and ecosystems including genetic diversity and the...

Dissemination is now acknowledged as an important component of the research process, in particular for European Union (EU) funded research projects. This article builds on the authors' experience during the EU project DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status) and aims to...

Human activities, both established and emerging, increasingly affect the provision of marine ecosystem services that deliver societal and economic benefits. Monitoring the status of marine ecosystems and determining how human activities change their capacity to sustain benefits for society requires an evidence-based Integrated Ecosystem Assessment...

By 2020, European Union Member States should achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) for 11 environmental quality descriptors for their marine waters to fulfill the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). By the end of 2015, in coordination with the Regional Seas Conventions, each EU Member State was required to develop a marine strategy for th...

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires the environmental status of European marine waters to be assessed using biodiversity as 1 out of 11 descriptors, but the complexity of marine biodiversity and its large span across latitudinal and salinity gradients have been a challenge to the scientific community aiming to produce approaches for in...

Abstract Benthic habitats provide a wide range of goods and services for human (e.g. food, tourism, etc.). However, the increasing human pressures upon the marine realm threaten marine ecosystems. Mapping and assessment of benthic habitats provide valuable scientific information for management measures, seeking the maintenance of benthic habitats i...

Abstract Sustainability of marine ecosystems and their services are dependent on marine biodiversity, which is threatened worldwide. Biodiversity protection is a major target of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, requiring assessment of the status of biodiversity on the level of species, habitats, and ecosystems including genetic diversity...

This report is the final deliverable of the "Mapping and Assessment of marine ecosystem services and link to good environmental status (phase 1)" .This report was written as the final deliverable of a project from a service request under the agreement of the 'Framework contract for services related to development of methodological standards in rela...

Borja, A., A. Murillas, M. Pascual, M.C. Uyarra, 2015. Marine and coastal ecosystems: delivery of goods and services through conservation. In: Ecosystem Services and River Basin Ecohydrology. Eds. L. Chícharo, F. Muller, N. Fohrer. Springer. Pp. 83-105.

Borja, A., A. Murillas, M. Pascual, M.C. Uyarra, 2015. Marine and coastal ecosystems: delivery of goods and services through conservation. In: Ecosystem Services and River Basin Ecohydrology. Eds. L. Chícharo, F. Muller, N. Fohrer. Springer. Pp. 83-105.

The European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) seeks to achieve, for all European seas, " Good Environmental Status " (GEnS), by 2020. Ecological models are currently one of the strongest approaches used to predicting and understanding the consequences of anthropogenic and climate-driven changes in the natural environment. We asses...

A reviewofthecriteriausedinEuropeandelsewhereforassessingtheecologicalcoherence of networksofmarineprotectedareashasledtoaproposalfortheassessment criteria to be used bytheCommission:representativity, connectivity ofconservationfeatures, replication of these featuresinseveralsitesandadequacy. The reportalsopresentsanassessment method which wasdevel...

Camouflage is a common tactic to avoid detection or recognition by predators and prey. Flounders have adaptive camouflage but a limited body pattern repertoire. We tested whether peacock flounders actively select or avoid certain substrates to more effectively use their limited camouflaging ability. We acquired and analyzed ten 30-min videos of ind...

Despite the important role of ecosystem services, their study and associated monetary value is limited mostly to terrestrial, estuarine and coastal systems, with few studies undertaken in open marine waters and deep water systems. In addition, human activities are degrading marine ecosystems and the services they provide. To reverse this situation,...