Advances in Marine and Freshwater Monitoring to support Aquatic Ecosystem Conservation and Restoration

The goal of this Research Topic is to produce a comprehensive overview of the state of the art and important advancements in the research field of monitoring and conservation/restoration of aquatic ecosystems. This collection aims to facilitate the implementation of effective and innovative monitoring practices and programs at both local and large scale (i.e., local, national, transnational), and to support conservation, restoration, and planning strategies. The topic is addressed towards all the aquatic domains, from freshwater to transitional and marine ecosystems, also considering their interfaces. This collection aims to bring together perspectives, lessons learned, best practice approaches, and case studies that link observational data with national and international observational networks to support the achievement of conservation strategies. We also encourage the contribution of studies that analyze and monitor ecosystem processes by building models based on long-term data sets that will enable the projection of future scenarios of ecosystem states and services undergoing global change. We further invite studies that combine observational and experimental work, relying also on new/improved technologies (e.g., in situ and remote monitoring instruments, molecular techniques, and innovative approaches) in an attempt to elucidate mechanisms underlying alterations in ecosystems. We particularly encourage studies that propose or demonstrate participative and socio-ecological approaches to monitoring.