Both ex-situ and in situ approaches were used in this study to compare which of the two methods is the most efficient. Even though, they share the same principle as a basis, enhance the development of the restored population without causing any harm to the donor population, let’s see which are the differences between them.

In this case, new recruits were cultivated inside tanks using receptacles from the first main donor population found in Piscinetta site, and specific structures where the attachment of the gametes, zygotes formation and their development would take place. Temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen as well as other physicochemical parameters were monitored using a multiprobe. After the set-up of the experiment, zygotes growing was monitored twice a week by counting and measuring their size. Once the recruits will be big enough they will be removed from the tank and placed on the selected site based on optimal conditions for the G.barbata survival.

For this approach, there was no cultivation stage because recruits naturally attached to native boulders were used. Once the new recruits were collected we proceeded with the transplantation to the sites chosen using the same criteria that with the mentioned above approach. A sheltered and flat area of 2 metres squares was selected and after the preparation of the site, previous collected natural boulders were attached with special epoxy glue to the substrate following a distribution 3:2:3:2.