Underwater cultural heritage is integral to marine ecosystems

Shipwreck ecology: Understanding the function and processes from microbes to megafauna

“…The subdiscipline thrives because of collaborations not only with archaeologists but also with geologists, physicists, chemists, and engineers, and there is ample room for growth and continued investigations drawing on interdisciplinary insights and hypotheses that can be used to further understand how living resources created by shipwrecks function. Although we focus in the present article on the ecology of shipwrecks, we recognize other types of underwater cultural heritage exist, including submerged settlements, aircraft, middens, and landscapes, which likewise support ecological resources (Meyer-Kaiser and Mires 2022 ). Collectively, cultural heritage offers a vast network of ecological experimental and monitoring sites that can help expand on our collective understanding of ecological functions of submerged human-built structures.…”

“…On reaching the bottom, shipwrecks undergo a period of rapid change before reaching an environmental equilibrium, which is the state in which the rate of structural degradation by physical, chemical, and geological processes approaches zero (Muckelroy 1978 ). These archaeological site formation processes affect the state of the shipwreck over time and can be linked with ecological succession (Meyer-Kaiser and Mires 2022 ) or with the progressive shift in community composition over time from primary colonizers to an apex or climax community of semisteady state.…”

“…Many shipwrecks are reduced to a pile of ballast stones or cargo, which represents the closest analogue to natural reefs. Much more research is needed to investigate the time scales for shipwreck communities to resemble natural reefs and especially the interactions between archaeological site formation and ecological succession over time (Meyer-Kaiser and Mires 2022 ). One study from the Mediterranean provides an endmember for understanding succession: Regional species composition was reflected in the community on a bronze battle ram from the First Punic War in 241 BCE (Gravina et al.…”

An Ocean of Science: an educational laboratory approach for the protection and preservation of the marine environment

“…These principles are reaffirmed and extended in a fundamental international legal instrument, the Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, adopted in Paris on November 2, 2001, by the General Conference of the Member States of UNESCO [2][3]. Shipwrecks, sunken cities, submerged settlements, and other artefacts represent irreplaceable historical resources that also constitute habitats for flora and fauna [4]. The underwater archaeological/historical sites are highly dynamic environments that are influenced by the entire marine system [1] and as such must be protected over time.…”

“…The underwater archaeological/historical sites are highly dynamic environments that are influenced by the entire marine system [1] and as such must be protected over time. In places with a long maritime history, such as the Mediterranean, they are particularly abundant [4]. For example, in Italy, there are over 30 marine protected areas and submerged parks for a total protection of 228 thousand hectares of sea.…”