2024 World Seagrass Conference & 15th International Seagrass Biology

The 2024 World Seagrass Conference (WSC2024) & 15th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW15) will take place in Naples, Italy, from June 17 to 21, 2024.

The theme of WSC2024 and ISBW15, “Seagrasses in the Anthropocene”, is based on the knowledge that seagrass ecosystems face accelerating human pressure on a local and global scale. Environmental changes are transforming seagrass ecosystems into new configurations that are unlike anything seen before. Going back to the settings of the past is no longer an option.

The overall challenge is to establish a new baseline, protect, restore and rehabilitate the existing resource.

The key issues to be addressed are:
To what extent are species resistant to environmental changes?
What are the mechanisms that explain it?
What can we do to ensure the sustainability of seagrass meadows?
What methodologies can we apply and/or continue to develop to keep grasslands functional?
How can we effectively combine socio-economic, cultural and managerial approaches with basic science?

ISBW15 and WSC24 will seek to answer these questions through three themes:

– Theme 1 : Seagrass responses to environmental change

– Theme 2: Diversity of seagrass communities and interactions between species.

– Topic 3: Conservation, management and citizen science of seagrass meadows.