Wadden Sea ecology in focus at the Estuaries and coastal seas in the Anthropocene 58 Conference.

The Wadden Sea was recognised with a dedicated session during the conference ECSA 58 - EMECS 13: Estuaries and coastal seas in the Anthropocene – Structure, functions, services and management which took place as an online event from September 6 to 9, 2021. “ECSA 58 - EMECS 13 brings together a global multi-disciplinary community of researchers, educators and practitioners to address issues of outstanding importance in the science (both natural and social) and management of estuaries and coastal seas in this rapidly changing world”

The special session was co-organised by different organisations working in the Wadden Sea, among them the Lower Saxony National Park Authority, the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS), the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI Sylt) and the Dutch Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). It was chaired by Sabine Horn (AWI) and Sascha Klöpper (CWSS). The presentations in this session ranged from how alien species integrate into the Wadden Sea ecosystem, the effects of seagrass recovery on the food web, the subtidal ecological functioning, the effects of benthos density on diet competition between fish, and the restoration potential of shellfish using hard substrates. The single integrated management plan (SIMP) for the Wadden Sea World Heritage was presented by Barbara Engels from the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and Chair of the Task Group World Heritage and Soledad Luna from CWSS.