The Miramare Biosphere Reserve and Marine Reserve is situated about km from the city of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

on the

Gulf of Trieste The Gulf of Trieste ( it, Golfo di Trieste, sl, Tržaški zaliv, hr, Tršćanski zaljev, german: Golf von Triest) is a very shallow bay of the Adriatic Sea, in the extreme northern part of the Adriatic Sea. It is part of the Gulf of Venice an ...

close to the

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

n border. It represents a rocky promontory of karst with coastal cliffs and beaches. Marine habitats of special interest from a conservation perspective are the tidal zone which harbours many endemic species, such as '' Fucus virsoides'', and undisturbed cliffs with a diverse benthic fauna. The aim of the biosphere reserve is to maintain biological diversity in the marine environment surrounding Trieste through scientific research and monitoring activities. Environmental education designed for students and the public is also a major activity in the area. This small biosphere reserve (290 hectares) is not inhabited, however many tourists enjoy underwater tours or visit the castle and garden of the Habsburg family. Both commercial and amateur fishing as well as other recreational activities infringe on the marine habitat. One of the challenges of the biosphere reserve is to involve all stakeholders such as traditional fishermen and the local community, tourism industry, non-governmental organizations, universities and municipalities in the management of the biosphere reserve. The area is managed by the Italian World Wildlife Fund on behalf of Italy’s Ministry of the Environment and Protection of the Territory.

Major habitats

Major habitats and land cover include ''

Zostera marina ''Zostera marina'' is a flowering vascular plant species as one of many kinds of seagrass, with this species known primarily by the English name of eelgrass with seawrack much less used, and refers to the plant after breaking loose from the submer ...

'' and ''

Cymodocea nodosa ''Cymodocea nodosa'' is a species of seagrass in the family Cymodoceaceae and is sometimes known as little Neptune grass.

'' meadows, a tidal zone with endemic species such as '' Fucus virsoides'', and Mediterranean

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

ous vegetation on terrestrial part.

Sources

References

{{Coord, 45.4200, N, 13.4200, E, source:wikidata, display=title Biosphere reserves of Italy