IMPORTANCE

Posidonia forms an ecosystem comparable to the Amazon and is called the lung of the Mediterranean, since it absorbs large amounts of CO2 and releases O2, between 4 and 20 liters per square meter that oxygenate the sea and the Earth’s atmosphere.

It is a bioindicator of water quality, as it is very sensitive to pollution and, therefore, where there is more posidonia the water is of higher quality.

It is a biodiversity reserve, since it provides a habitat in which 400 plant species and 1000 animals take refuge, feed and reproduce, some of which are exclusive to this habitat.

It provides a great fishing resource and a human food source.

Some of the organisms are filter feeders, such as the noble pen shell or the sea cucumber, which feed on organic particles and control the amount of nutrients in the water column, making it clean and transparent.

It constitutes a natural barrier so that the tides do not remove the sand from the beaches, as it attenuates hydrodynamism.

The rhizomes (stems) fix the sediment, cushioning the waves, decreasing erosion and protecting the dunes.

The accumulation of dead leaves on the beach forms a protective element against waves and storms.

It presents cultural, aesthetic, touristic, didactic, religious/spiritual and paleoecological (it shows the evolution of the ecosystem) value, in addition to the importance of the individual species, its communities and its processes.

It has economic value, since it constitutes a source of income derived from fishing and tourism by clean waters and white sands, as well as the habitat that it provides to so many species, the large production of oxygen and the retention of sediments, among others.

Therefore, the Posidonia oceanica meadows located in the Natural park of ses Salines of Ibiza and Formentera were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.