10 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables ; The white gorgonian, Eunicella singularis, is thriving in Mediterranean hard-bottom communities; however, data regarding its distribution and ecology remain absent and insufficient, particularly in the southern Mediterranean Sea. In this study, the population structure and disturbance levels of the most common gorgonian in Tunisia were assessed for the first time. During two years (2015-2016), a total of 818 colonies of E. singularis were surveyed in five coastal sites, by scuba diving, between 7 to 40 m depth. Collected data included density, colony height, and extent of injury. Mean population density was 11.91 ± 7.42 colonies per m2 (mean ± SD). Mean and maximum colony heights were 16.49 ± 5.59 cm and 51 cm, respectively. Among populations, mean extent of tissue injury differed considerably, ranging from 12.47% to 58.88% and most affected colonies showed old necrosis. These data regarding the demographic structure and level of injuries are needed to provide insights into the conservation status of the Tunisian population of E. singularis. Indeed, data on the amount of necrosis could highlight the strength of the colonies' exposure to mechanical impacts and are consequently crucial to study changes in their demographic structure over time. In fact, the size, structures, and the high level of tissue necrosis of the colonies suggest a low conservation status of the studied Tunisian populations ; With funding from the Spanish government through the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) ; Peer reviewed
9 pages, 5 figures, supporting information https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12341 ; Understanding the drivers of restoration success is a central issue for marine conservation. Here, we explore the role of life‐history strategies of sessile marine species in shaping restoration outcomes and their associated timescales. A transplantation experiment for the extremely slow‐growing and threatened octocoral Corallium rubrum was highly successful over a relatively short term due to high survival and reproductive potential of the transplanted colonies. However, demographic projections predict that from 30 to 40 years may be required for fully functional C. rubrum populations to develop. More broadly, a comprehensive meta‐analysis revealed a negative correlation between survival after transplanting and growth rates among sessile species. As a result, simulated dynamics for a range of marine sessile invertebrates predict that longer recovery times are positively associated with survival rates. These results demonstrate a tradeoff between initial transplantation efforts and the speed of recovery. Transplantation of slow‐growing species will tend to require lower initial effort due to higher survival after transplanting, but the period required to fully recover habitat complexity will tend to be far longer. This study highlights the important role of life history as a driver of marine restoration outcomes and shows how demographic knowledge and modeling tools can help managers to anticipate the dynamics and timescales of restored populations ; Funding was provided by the Spanish MINECO (CTM2009-08045 and CGL2012-32194), the Oak Foundation, the TOTAL Foundation Perfect Project, and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 689518 (MERCES). [.] IMS was supported by a FPI grant (BES-2013-066150), CL by a Ramon y Cajal (RyC-2011-08134), and JBL by a Postdoctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/74400/2010). Authors are part of the Medrecover group (2014SGR1297) ; Peer Reviewed
14 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, supporting information https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13718.-- Data availability statement: The data and code related to the manuscript have been placed in the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.69p8cz91g ; Quantifying changes in functional community structure driven by disturbance is critical to anticipate potential shifts in ecosystem functioning. However, how marine heatwaves (MHWs) affect the functional structure of temperate coral‐dominated communities is poorly understood. Here, we used five long‐term (> 10 years) records of Mediterranean coralligenous assemblages in a multi‐taxa, trait‐based analysis to investigate MHW‐driven changes in functional structure. We show that, despite stability in functional richness (i.e. the range of species functional traits), MHW‐impacted assemblages experienced long‐term directional changes in functional identity (i.e. their dominant trait values). Declining traits included large sizes, long lifespans, arborescent morphologies, filter‐feeding strategies or calcified skeletons. These traits, which were mostly supported by few sensitive and irreplaceable species from a single functional group (habitat‐forming octocorals), disproportionally influence certain ecosystem functions (e.g. 3D‐habitat provision). Hence, MHWs are leading to assemblages that are deficient in key functional traits, with likely consequences for the ecosystem functioning ; We acknowledge the funding of the Spanish government through the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' accreditation (CEX2019‐000928‐S). This research has also been partially funded by the HEATMED project (RTI2018‐095346‐B‐I00, MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE), Interreg Med Programme (Projects MPA‐ENGAGE; 5216 | 5MED18_3.2_M23_007 and MPA‐Adapt, 1MED15_3.2_M2_337) 85% cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund, the MIMOSA project funded by the Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco, the Perfect project funded by the TOTAL Foundation, the Medchange project funded by the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (ANR) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grants agreements 689518 (MERCES) and SEP‐210597628 (FutureMARES). D.G.G. is supported by an FPU grant (FPU15/05457) from the Spanish Ministry of Education. CL gratefully acknowledges the financial support by ICREA under the ICREA Academia programme. VB is supported by the Templeton Foundation (grant #60501, 'Putting the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis to the Test'). J‐B.L is supported by the strategic Funding UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020. [.] D.G.G, C.L, J‐B.L, N.B, P.L.S & J.G are part of the Marine Conservation research group (www.medrecover.org) (2017 SGR 1521) from the Generalitat de Catalunya. ; Peer reviewed
15 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, supplementary material https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.633057/full#supplementary-material.-- Data Availability Statement:The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s ; Marine protected areas (MPAs) are one of the most efficient conservation tools to buffer marine biodiversity loss induced by human activities. Beside effective enforcement, an accurate understanding of the eco-evolutionary processes underlying the patterns of biodiversity is needed to reap the benefits of management policies. In this context, integrating population genetics with demographic data, the demo-genetic approach, is particularly relevant to shift from a "species-based pattern" toward an "eco-evolutionary-based processes" conservation. Here, targeting a key species in the Mediterranean coralligenous, the red coral, Corallium rubrum, in an emblematic Mediterranean MPA, the "Réserve Naturelle de Scandola" (France), we applied demo-genetic approaches at two contrasted spatial scales, among populations and within one population, to (i) infer the demographic connectivity among populations in the metapopulation network and (ii) shed new light on the genetic connectivity and on the demographic transitions underlying the dynamics of a near-pristine population. Integrating different spatial and temporal scales, we demonstrated (i) an apparent temporal stability in the pattern of genetic diversity and structure in the MPA in spite of a dramatic demographic decline and (ii) contrasted levels of genetic isolation but substantial demographic connectivity among populations. Focusing on the near-pristine population, we complemented the characterization of red coral demographic connectivity suggesting (iii) temporal variability and (iv) the occurrence of collective dispersal. In addition, we demonstrated (v) contrasted patterns of spatial genetic structure (SGS), depending on the considered stage-class (adults vs. juveniles), in the near-pristine population. This last result points out that the overall SGS resulted from a restricted dispersal of locally produced juveniles (SGS among adults and juveniles) combined to mortality during early life stages (decrease of SGS from juveniles to adults). Demonstrating the occurrence of two management units and the importance of two populations (CAVB and ALE) for the network of connectivity, we made recommendations for the management of the Réserve Naturelle de Scandola. Besides, we contributed to the implementation of scientifically driven restoration protocols in red coral by providing estimates for the size, density, and distances among patches of transplanted colonies ; This research was supported by the Strategic Funding UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020 through national funds provided by the FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the program PT2020, the Spanish MINECO (CGL2012-32194), the TOTAL Foundation PERFECT project, the MIMOSA project funded by the foundation Prince Albert II de Monaco, and the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under grant agreement N° 689518 (MERCES). [.] J-BL was funded by an assistant researcher contract framework of the RD Unit—UID/Multi/04423/2019 – Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research—financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through COMPETE2020 – Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI) and national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC). Genotyping was performed at the Genome Transcriptome Facility of Bordeaux (grants from the Conseil Régional d'Aquitaine n 20030304002FA and 20040305003FA, from the European Union FEDER n 2003227 and from Investissements d'Avenir ANR-10-EQPX-16-01). This work acknowledges the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S). We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI) ; Peer reviewed
12 pages, 5 figures, 6 tables, supplemental material https://doi.org/10.25387/g3.12640691 ; The octocoral, Paramuricea clavata, is a habitat-forming anthozoan with a key ecological role in rocky benthic and biodiversity-rich communities in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic. Shallow populations of P. clavata in the North-Western Mediterranean are severely affected by warming-induced mass mortality events (MMEs). These MMEs have differentially impacted individuals and populations of P. clavata (i.e., varied levels of tissue necrosis and mortality rates) over thousands of kilometers of coastal areas. The eco-evolutionary processes, including genetic factors, contributing to these differential responses remain to be characterized. Here, we sequenced a P. clavata individual with short and long read technologies, producing 169.98 Gb of Illumina paired-end and 3.55 Gb of Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) reads. We obtained a de novo genome assembly accounting for 607 Mb in 64,145 scaffolds. The contig and scaffold N50s are 19.15 Kb and 23.92 Kb, respectively. Despite of the low contiguity of the assembly, its gene completeness is relatively high, including 75.8% complete and 9.4% fragmented genes out of the 978 metazoan genes contained in the metazoa_odb9 database. A total of 62,652 protein-coding genes have been annotated. This assembly is one of the few octocoral genomes currently available. This is undoubtedly a valuable resource for characterizing the genetic bases of the differential responses to thermal stress and for the identification of thermo-resistant individuals and populations. Overall, having the genome of P. clavata will facilitate studies of various aspects of its evolutionary ecology and elaboration of effective conservation plans such as active restoration to overcome the threats of global change ; We acknowledge the funding support of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 689518 (MERCES) and the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the programme PT2020. JBL is funded by an assistant researcher contract framework of the RD Unit - UID/Multi/04423/2019 - Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research – financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through COMPETE2020 - Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI) and national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC). AA was partially supported by the FCT project PTDC/CTA-AMB/31774/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER/031774/2017). DGG was supported by an FPU grant (FPU15/05457) from the Spanish Ministry of Education. We acknowledge support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to the EMBL partnership, the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa, the CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Generalitat de Catalunya through Departament de Salut and Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement, and the Co-financing by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) corresponding to the 2014-2020 Smart Growth Operating Program. JBL and JG planned and granted the funding to start the project ; Peer reviewed
20 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, supporting information https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13382.-- Data availability statement: Microsatellite genotypes are available on Dryad (DOI https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xgxd254gw) ; Aim: How historical and contemporary eco-evolutionary processes shape the patterns of genetic diversity and differentiation across species' distribution range remains an open question with strong conservation implications. Focusing on the orange stony coral, Astroides calycularis, we (a) characterized the pattern of neutral genetic diversity across the distribution range; (b) gave insights into the underlying processes; and (c) discussed conservation implications with emphasis on a national park located on a hotspot of genetic diversity. Location: South Mediterranean Sea and Zembra National Park. Methods: We combined new data from 12 microsatellites in 13 populations located in the Centre and in the Western Periphery of the distribution range with a published dataset including 16 populations from the Western and Eastern Peripheries. We analysed the relationship among parameters of genetic diversity (He, Ar(g)) and structure (population-specific FST) and two measures of geographic peripherality. We compared two estimators of pairwise genetic structure (GST, DEST) across the distribution range. The evolutionary and demographic history of the populations following the Last Glacial Maximum was reconstructed using approximate Bayesian computations and maximum-likelihood analyses. We inferred the contemporary connectivity among populations from Zembra National Park and with the neighbouring area of Cap Bon. Results: We demonstrate a decrease in genetic diversity and an increase in genetic differentiation from the Centre to the Eastern and Western Peripheries of the distribution range. Populations from Zembra show the highest genetic diversity reported in the species. We identified a spillover effect towards Cap Bon. Main conclusions: The patterns of genetic diversity and differentiation are most likely explained by "the postglacial range expansion hypothesis" rather than the "central–peripheral hypothesis." Enforcement of conservation measures should be considered to protect this genetic diversity pattern, in particular when considering the low effective population size inferred at many sites ; JBL was funded by a Postdoctoral Grant (SFRH/BPD/74400/2010) from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). This research was supported by national funds through FCT within the scope of UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020 and by the MIMOSA project funded by the Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco. JG, DGG and PL acknowledge the funding of the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S). This work was partially supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement SEP-210597628 (FutureMARES) ; Peer reviewed
10 pages, 4 figures, supplemental material https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/suppl/10.1098/rspb.2021.2384.-- Data accessibility: All data and code supporting the results are available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.18931zczk ; Understanding the resilience of temperate reefs to climate change requires exploring the recovery capacity of their habitat-forming species from recurrent marine heatwaves (MHWs). Here, we show that, in a Mediterranean highly enforced marine protected area established more than 40 years ago, habitat-forming octocoral populations that were first affected by a severe MHW in 2003 have not recovered after 15 years. Contrarily, they have followed collapse trajectories that have brought them to the brink of local ecological extinction. Since 2003, impacted populations of the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) and the red coral Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758) have followed different trends in terms of size structure, but a similar progressive reduction in density and biomass. Concurrently, recurrent MHWs were observed in the area during the 2003–2018 study period, which may have hindered populations recovery. The studied octocorals play a unique habitat-forming role in the coralligenous assemblages (i.e. reefs endemic to the Mediterranean Sea home to approximately 10% of its species). Therefore, our results underpin the great risk that recurrent MHWs pose for the long-term integrity and functioning of these emblematic temperate reefs ; We acknowledge the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' (CEX2019–000928-S) funding, the MCIU/AEI/FEDER [HEATMED; RTI2018-095346-B-I00], Interreg-Med Programme (5216 | 5MED18_3.2_M23_007 and 1MED15_3.2_M2_337), Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco [MIMOSA], the TOTAL-Foundation [Perfect] and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant nos. 689518 and SEP-210597628). D.G.-G. is supported by a FPU15/05457 grant. C.L. acknowledges the support of ICREA. J.B.L is supported by the strategic Funding [UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020]. N.T. received funding by the French National Research Agency-Make Our Planet Great Again [4Oceans-MOPGA and ANR-17-MPGA-0001]. D.K.K. is supported by a IJCI-2017-31457. D.G.-G., C.L., J.B.L., E.C., P.L.-S., D.K.K. and J.G. are part of the Medrecover group [2017 SGR 1521] ; Peer reviewed
Este artículo contiene 10 páginas, 4 figuras. ; Understanding the resilience of temperate reefs to climate change requires exploring the recovery capacity of their habitat-forming species from recurrent marine heatwaves (MHWs). Here, we show that, in a Mediterranean highly enforced marine protected area established more than 40 years ago, habitat-forming octocoral populations that were first affected by a severe MHW in 2003 have not recovered after 15 years. Contrarily, they have followed collapse trajectories that have brought them to the brink of local ecological extinction. Since 2003, impacted populations of the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) and the red coral Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758) have followed different trends in terms of size structure, but a similar progressive reduction in density and biomass. Concurrently, recurrent MHWs were observed in the area during the 2003–2018 study period, which may have hindered populations recovery. The studied octocorals play a unique habitat-forming role in the coralligenous assemblages (i.e. reefs endemic to the Mediterranean Sea home to approximately 10% of its species). Therefore, our results underpin the great risk that recurrent MHWs pose for the long-term integrity and functioning of these emblematic temperate reefs. ; We acknowledge the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' (CEX2019–000928-S) funding, the MCIU/AEI/FEDER [HEATMED; RTI2018-095346-B-I00], Interreg-Med Programme (5216 | 5MED18_ 3.2_M23_007 and 1MED15_3.2_M2_337), Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco [MIMOSA], the TOTAL-Foundation [Perfect] and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant nos. 689518 and SEP-210597628). D.G.-G. is supported by a FPU15/05457 grant. C.L. acknowledges the support of ICREA. J.B.L is supported by the strategic Funding [UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020]. N.T. received funding by the French National Research Agency-Make Our Planet Great Again [4Oceans-MOPGA and ANR-17-MPGA-0001]. D.K.K. is supported by a IJCI-2017- 31457. D.G.-G., C.L., J.B.L., E.C., P.L.-S., D.K.K. and J.G. are part of the Medrecover group [2017 SGR 1521]. ; Peer reviewed
14 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, supplementary material https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.626843/full#supplementary-material ; Restoration is considered an effective strategy to accelerate the recovery of biological communities at local scale. However, the effects of restoration actions in the marine ecosystems are still unpredictable. We performed a global analysis of published literature to identify the factors increasing the probability of restoration success in coastal and marine systems. Our results confirm that the majority of active restoration initiatives are still concentrated in the northern hemisphere and that most of information gathered from restoration efforts derives from a relatively small subset of species. The analysis also indicates that many studies are still experimental in nature, covering small spatial and temporal scales. Despite the limits of assessing restoration effectiveness in absence of a standardized definition of success, the context (degree of human impact, ecosystem type, habitat) of where the restoration activity is undertaken is of greater relevance to a successful outcome than how (method) the restoration is carried out. Contrary to expectations, we found that restoration is not necessarily more successful closer to protected areas (PA) and in areas of moderate human impact. This result can be motivated by the limits in assessing the success of interventions and by the tendency of selecting areas in more obvious need of restoration, where the potential of actively restoring a degraded site is more evident. Restoration sites prioritization considering human uses and conservation status present in the region is of vital importance to obtain the intended outcomes and galvanize further actions. ; Research funded by the EU project MERCES of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research (Grant agreement No. 689518, http://www.merces-project.eu). ; Research funded by the EU project MERCES of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research (Grant agreement No. 689518, http://www.merces-project.eu) ; Peer reviewed
Anthropogenic climate change, and global warming in particular, has strong and increasing impacts on marine ecosystems (Poloczanska et al., 2013; Halpern et al., 2015; Smale et al., 2019). The Mediterranean Sea is considered a marine biodiversity hot-spot contributing to more than 7% of world's marine biodiversity including a high percentage of endemic species (Coll et al., 2010). The Mediterranean region is a climate change hotspot, where the respective impacts of warming are very pronounced and relatively well documented (Cramer et al., 2018). One of the major impacts of sea surface temperature rise in the marine coastal ecosystems is the occurrence of mass mortality events (MMEs). The first evidences of this phenomenon dated from the first half of'80 years affecting the Western Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea (Harmelin, 1984; Bavestrello and Boero, 1986; Gaino and Pronzato, 1989; Voultsiadou et al., 2011). The most impressive phenomenon happened in 1999 when an unprecedented large scale MME impacted populations of more than 30 species from different phyla along the French and Italian coasts (Cerrano et al., 2000; Perez et al., 2000). Following this event, several other large scale MMEs have been reported, along with numerous other minor ones, which are usually more restricted in geographic extend and/or number of affected species (Garrabou et al., 2009; Rivetti et al., 2014; Marbà et al., 2015; Rubio-Portillo et al., 2016, authors' personal observations). These events have generally been associated with strong and recurrent marine heat waves (Crisci et al., 2011; Kersting et al., 2013; Turicchia et al., 2018; Bensoussan et al., 2019) which are becoming more frequent globally (Smale et al., 2019). Both field observations and future projections using Regional Coupled Models (Adloff et al., 2015; Darmaraki et al., 2019) show the increase in Mediterranean sea surface temperature, with more frequent occurrence of extreme ocean warming events. As a result, new MMEs are expected during the coming years. To date, despite the efforts, neither updated nor comprehensive information can support scientific analysis of mortality events at a Mediterranean regional scale. Such information is vital to guide management and conservation strategies that can then inform adaptive management schemes that aim to face the impacts of climate change ; MV-L was supported by a postdoctoral contract Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación (IJCI-2016-29329) of Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. AI was supported by a Technical staff contract (PTA2015-10829-I) Ayudas Personal Técnico de Apoyo of Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (2015). Interreg Med Programme (grant number Project MPA-Adapt 1MED15_3.2_M2_337) 85% cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund, the MIMOSA project funded by the Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 689518 (MERCES). DG-G was supported by an FPU grant (FPU15/05457) from the Spanish Ministry of Education. J-BL was partially supported by the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the programme PT2020 ; Peer Reviewed
Anthropogenic climate change, and global warming in particular, has strong and increasing impacts on marine ecosystems (Poloczanska et al., 2013; Halpern et al., 2015; Smale et al., 2019). The Mediterranean Sea is considered a marine biodiversity hot-spot contributing to more than 7% of world's marine biodiversity including a high percentage of endemic species (Coll et al., 2010). The Mediterranean region is a climate change hotspot, where the respective impacts of warming are very pronounced and relatively well documented (Cramer et al., 2018). One of the major impacts of sea surface temperature rise in the marine coastal ecosystems is the occurrence of mass mortality events (MMEs). The first evidences of this phenomenon dated from the first half of'80 years affecting the Western Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea (Harmelin, 1984; Bavestrello and Boero, 1986; Gaino and Pronzato, 1989; Voultsiadou et al., 2011). The most impressive phenomenon happened in 1999 when an unprecedented large scale MME impacted populations of more than 30 species from different phyla along the French and Italian coasts (Cerrano et al., 2000; Perez et al., 2000). Following this event, several other large scale MMEs have been reported, along with numerous other minor ones, which are usually more restricted in geographic extend and/or number of affected species (Garrabou et al., 2009; Rivetti et al., 2014; Marbà et al., 2015; Rubio-Portillo et al., 2016, authors' personal observations). These events have generally been associated with strong and recurrent marine heat waves (Crisci et al., 2011; Kersting et al., 2013; Turicchia et al., 2018; Bensoussan et al., 2019) which are becoming more frequent globally (Smale et al., 2019). Both field observations and future projections using Regional Coupled Models (Adloff et al., 2015; Darmaraki et al., 2019) show the increase in Mediterranean sea surface temperature, with more frequent occurrence of extreme ocean warming events. As a result, new MMEs are expected during the coming years. To date, despite the efforts, neither updated nor comprehensive information can support scientific analysis of mortality events at a Mediterranean regional scale. Such information is vital to guide management and conservation strategies that can then inform adaptive management schemes that aim to face the impacts of climate change ; MV-L was supported by a postdoctoral contract Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación (IJCI-2016-29329) of Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. AI was supported by a Technical staff contract (PTA2015-10829-I) Ayudas Personal Técnico de Apoyo of Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (2015). Interreg Med Programme (grant number Project MPA-Adapt 1MED15_3.2_M2_337) 85% cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund, the MIMOSA project funded by the Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 689518 (MERCES). DG-G was supported by an FPU grant (FPU15/05457) from the Spanish Ministry of Education. J-BL was partially supported by the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the programme PT2020 ; Peer Reviewed
Anthropogenic climate change, and global warming in particular, has strong and increasing impacts on marine ecosystems (Poloczanska et al., 2013; Halpern et al., 2015; Smale et al., 2019). The Mediterranean Sea is considered a marine biodiversity hot-spot contributing to more than 7% of world's marine biodiversity including a high percentage of endemic species (Coll et al., 2010). The Mediterranean region is a climate change hotspot, where the respective impacts of warming are very pronounced and relatively well documented (Cramer et al., 2018). One of the major impacts of sea surface temperature rise in the marine coastal ecosystems is the occurrence of mass mortality events (MMEs). The first evidences of this phenomenon dated from the first half of'80 years affecting the Western Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea (Harmelin, 1984; Bavestrello and Boero, 1986; Gaino and Pronzato, 1989; Voultsiadou et al., 2011). The most impressive phenomenon happened in 1999 when an unprecedented large scale MME impacted populations of more than 30 species from different phyla along the French and Italian coasts (Cerrano et al., 2000; Perez et al., 2000). Following this event, several other large scale MMEs have been reported, along with numerous other minor ones, which are usually more restricted in geographic extend and/or number of affected species (Garrabou et al., 2009; Rivetti et al., 2014; Marbà et al., 2015; Rubio-Portillo et al., 2016, authors' personal observations). These events have generally been associated with strong and recurrent marine heat waves (Crisci et al., 2011; Kersting et al., 2013; Turicchia et al., 2018; Bensoussan et al., 2019) which are becoming more frequent globally (Smale et al., 2019). Both field observations and future projections using Regional Coupled Models (Adloff et al., 2015; Darmaraki et al., 2019) show the increase in Mediterranean sea surface temperature, with more frequent occurrence of extreme ocean warming events. As a result, new MMEs are expected during the coming years. To date, despite the efforts, neither updated nor comprehensive information can support scientific analysis of mortality events at a Mediterranean regional scale. Such information is vital to guide management and conservation strategies that can then inform adaptive management schemes that aim to face the impacts of climate change ; MV-L was supported by a postdoctoral contract Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación (IJCI-2016-29329) of Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. AI was supported by a Technical staff contract (PTA2015-10829-I) Ayudas Personal Técnico de Apoyo of Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (2015). Interreg Med Programme (grant number Project MPA-Adapt 1MED15_3.2_M2_337) 85% cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund, the MIMOSA project funded by the Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 689518 (MERCES). DG-G was supported by an FPU grant (FPU15/05457) from the Spanish Ministry of Education. J-BL was partially supported by the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the programme PT2020 ; Peer Reviewed
5 pages, 1 figure.-- The MME-T-MEDNet databased was published in the Digital.CSIC repository. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/8575. HANDLE: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/171445 ; Anthropogenic climate change, and global warming in particular, has strong and increasing impacts on marine ecosystems (Poloczanska et al., 2013; Halpern et al., 2015; Smale et al., 2019). The Mediterranean Sea is considered a marine biodiversity hot-spot contributing to more than 7% of world's marine biodiversity including a high percentage of endemic species (Coll et al., 2010). The Mediterranean region is a climate change hotspot, where the respective impacts of warming are very pronounced and relatively well documented (Cramer et al., 2018). One of the major impacts of sea surface temperature rise in the marine coastal ecosystems is the occurrence of mass mortality events (MMEs). The first evidences of this phenomenon dated from the first half of'80 years affecting the Western Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea (Harmelin, 1984; Bavestrello and Boero, 1986; Gaino and Pronzato, 1989; Voultsiadou et al., 2011). The most impressive phenomenon happened in 1999 when an unprecedented large scale MME impacted populations of more than 30 species from different phyla along the French and Italian coasts (Cerrano et al., 2000; Perez et al., 2000). Following this event, several other large scale MMEs have been reported, along with numerous other minor ones, which are usually more restricted in geographic extend and/or number of affected species (Garrabou et al., 2009; Rivetti et al., 2014; Marbà et al., 2015; Rubio-Portillo et al., 2016, authors' personal observations). These events have generally been associated with strong and recurrent marine heat waves (Crisci et al., 2011; Kersting et al., 2013; Turicchia et al., 2018; Bensoussan et al., 2019) which are becoming more frequent globally (Smale et al., 2019). Both field observations and future projections using Regional Coupled Models (Adloff et al., 2015; Darmaraki et al., 2019) show the increase in Mediterranean sea surface temperature, with more frequent occurrence of extreme ocean warming events. As a result, new MMEs are expected during the coming years. To date, despite the efforts, neither updated nor comprehensive information can support scientific analysis of mortality events at a Mediterranean regional scale. Such information is vital to guide management and conservation strategies that can then inform adaptive management schemes that aim to face the impacts of climate change ; MV-L was supported by a postdoctoral contract Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación (IJCI-2016-29329) of Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. AI was supported by a Technical staff contract (PTA2015-10829-I) Ayudas Personal Técnico de Apoyo of Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (2015). Interreg Med Programme (grant number Project MPA-Adapt 1MED15_3.2_M2_337) 85% cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund, the MIMOSA project funded by the Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 689518 (MERCES). DG-G was supported by an FPU grant (FPU15/05457) from the Spanish Ministry of Education. J-BL was partially supported by the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the programme PT2020 ; Peer Reviewed
