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La retórica de Obama ante el terrorismo: las redes sociales en el caso de los atentados de Boston de abril de 2013 ; Obama's rhetoric in the war on terror: the presidential use of social networks in the case of April 2013 Boston attacks
El presente trabajo estudia dos aspectos de la retórica del presidente norteamericano, Barack Obama, tras los atentados de Boston de abril de 2013: el contenido de sus discursos orales y el uso que hizo de su cuenta en la red social Twitter después de los atentados. La investigación, basada en el análisis de contenido textual de los discursos y de los tuits publicados, ha permitido constatar tres hechos: Primero, que en las intervenciones públicas de Obama se mantienen las principales características propias de la retórica presidencial norteamericana ante la guerra contra el terrorismo, especialmente al presentar al enemigo pero sobre todo al propio bando. Segundo, que cuando estos recursos retóricos se trasladan a las redes sociales —y en concreto a Twitter—, el uso de ellas se limita meramente a reproducir fragmentos textuales de lo ya expresado por el presidente ante los medios; por tanto, se utilizan las redes como simples difusores de información ya ofrecida al público y a los medios de comunicación convencionales. Y tercero, junto a esta constatación, se observa que el principal uso de Twitter por parte del presidente Obama en los días posteriores a los atentados buscaba movilizar e impulsar la acción de sus seguidores a favor de una causa política: en este caso concreto, la campaña a favor de un mayor control de las armas de fuego. ; The aim of this paper is to study two aspects of the US president Barack Obama's rhetoric on the April 2013 Boston attacks: the first one, the arguments in the public remarks and speeches he gave after the attacks; the second one, the use of his Twitter account on the days after the explosions. The research has been done trough the textual content analysis of Obama's addresses and tweets and it has resulted in at least three noteworthy conclusions: first, Obama's rhetoric on the attacks presents the main characteristics of the US presidential rhetoric on the war on terror, not only in depicting the enemy but especially in presenting the US and the American society; second, ...
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The Populist Political Communication Style in Action: Podemos' Issues and Functions on Twitter during the 2016 Spanish General Election
In: American Behavioural Scientist, Forthcoming
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The Succession of Felipe VI to the Spanish Throne, Following Juan Carlos I. Content Analysis of the Editorial Articles Published by the Newspapers of Madrid and Barcelona ; La sucesión de Juan Carlos I por Felipe VI. Análisis de contenido de los artículos editoriales publicados por los diarios de Ma...
This paper analyses the views expressed in the editorial articles of eight Spanish newspapers on the abdication of Juan Carlos I and his replacement by Felipe VI. The studied issues are the reign of Juan Carlos I; the monarchy as an institution; the succession process; the new King Felipe VI and, in this context, the impact of the sovereignty movement in Catalonia. The selected newspapers are the main four published in Madrid and Barcelona, respectively. The editorial content is studied through an ad hoc designed methodology based on text analysis. The results show significant differences between the press of Madrid and Barcelona, and the strong influence of the political and cultural context in newspapers' decisions regarding the number and the content of the editorials. ; El presente trabajo analiza la opinión expresada en los artículos editoriales de ocho diarios españoles sobre la abdicación de Juan Carlos I y su relevo por Felipe VI. Los temas estudiados son el reinado de Juan Carlos I; la monarquía como institución; el proceso sucesorio; el nuevo rey, Felipe VI, así como, en este contexto, la incidencia del movimiento soberanista en Cataluña. Los diarios seleccionados son los cuatro principales editados en Madrid y Barcelona, respectivamente. El contenido de los editoriales se estudia a través de una metodología diseñada ad-hoc basada en el análisis de textos. Los resultados muestran notables diferencias entre la prensa madrileña y la barcelonesa, y la fuerte influencia del contexto político-cultural en las decisiones de los periódicos en relación con el número y el contenido de los editoriales.
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Ecological Role of Submarine Canyons and Need for Canyon Conservation: A Review
26 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, supplementary material https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00005/full#supplementary-material ; Submarine canyons are major geomorphic features of continental margins around the world. Several recent multidisciplinary projects focused on the study of canyons have considerably increased our understanding of their ecological role, the goods, and services they provide to human populations, and the impacts that human activities have on their overall ecological condition. Pressures from human activities include fishing, dumping of land-based mine tailings, and oil and gas extraction. Moreover, hydrodynamic processes of canyons enhance the down-canyon transport of litter. The effects of climate change may modify the intensity of currents. This potential hydrographic change is predicted to impact the structure and functioning of canyon communities as well as affect nutrient supply to the deep-ocean ecosystem. This review not only identifies the ecological status of canyons, and current and future issues for canyon conservation, but also highlights the need for a better understanding of anthropogenic impacts on canyon ecosystems and proposes other research required to inform management measures to protect canyon ecosystems ; UF was funded by the Balearic Government post-doctoral grant 2016, co-financed by European Social Plan; VH was supported by the CODEMAP project (ERC Starting Grant no 258482) and the NERC MAREMAP programme; PP has been funded by the ABIDES project (CTM2015-65142-R); AR was supported by NIWA research project "Impact of resource use on vulnerable deep-sea communities" (MBIE contract CO1X0906). IV was funded by Ifremer and Région Bretagne. ALA is supported by Science Foundation Ireland / Marine Institute IvP award 15/IA/3100 ; Peer reviewed ; Peer Reviewed
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Fine-scale water mass variability inside a narrow submarine canyon (the Besòs Canyon) in the NW Mediterranean Sea ; Variabilidad de las masas de agua a pequeña escala en un cañón submarino (cañón del Besòs) en el NO del mar Mediterráneo
Special volume: Planet Ocean. Scientia Marina 80(Suppl.1) 2016.-- 10 pages, 7 figures ; [EN] In this work we report short-term measurements of the thermohaline structure and velocity field inside a narrow submarine canyon by means of a yo-yo–like profiler. An Aqualog profiler was deployed inside the Besòs Canyon in the northwestern Mediterranean continental margin, providing a unique data set on the vertical evolution of water column characteristics with unprecedented fine-scale spatial and temporal resolution. The observations reported here show a very dynamic transient short-term response with a complex vertical structure not observed previously in any submarine canyon of this region. The vertical distribution of water masses was characteristic of the western Mediterranean basin with Atlantic waters (AW) at the surface, Western Intermediate waters (WIW) in the middle and Levantine Intermediate (LIW) waters below. Turner angle and empirical orthogonal functions show that double-diffusive and isopycnal mixing are the main dominant processes at small scales. The interfaces of the three layers exhibit highly vertical excursions in relatively short times. At the surface, deepening of AW was observed, associated with flow intensification events. Deeper in the water column, within the submarine canyon confinement, the WIW-LIW interface uplifts about 100-150 m. These motions are associated with relatively up- and down-canyon–enhanced current events (up to 15-20 cm s–1 at 500 and 800 m depths) along the canyon axis. The time scales of the vertical variability were concentrated in a broad band around the semi-diurnal and local inertial frequencies within the WIW and LIW layers ; [ES] En este trabajo se muestran medidas a corto plazo de la estructura termohalina y del campo de velocidad dentro de un estrecho cañón submarino a través de un perfilador tipo yo-yo. Este perfilador Aqualog se desplegó dentro del cañón del Besòs en el noroeste del margen continental del Mediterráneo, proporcionando un conjunto de datos único sobre la evolución vertical de las características de la columna de agua, con una resolución espacial y temporal a escala fina sin precedentes. Las observaciones aportadas aquí muestran una respuesta de un periodo transitorio muy dinámico con una estructura vertical compleja no observada anteriormente en ningún cañón submarino de esta región. La distribución vertical de las masas de agua es característica de la cuenca mediterránea occidental con aguas del Atlántico (AW) en la superficie, aguas occidentales Intermedias (WIW) debajo de estas y aguas de Levante Intermedio (LIW) por debajo. Los ángulos de Turner calculados y sus EOFs muestran que la estabilidad a la difusión y mezcla isopicna son los principales procesos dominantes a escalas pequeñas. Las interfaces de las tres capas exhiben excursiones notablemente verticales en tiempos relativamente cortos. En la superficie, la profundización de AW se observó asociada a eventos de intensificación del flujo. A más profundidad en la columna de agua, dentro del régimen de cañón submarino, la interfase WIW-LIW se eleva unos 100-150 m. Tales movimientos se asocian al flujo de agua hacia arriba y hacia abajo del cañón (hasta 15-20 cm s–1 a 500 y 800 m de profundidad) a lo largo del eje del cañón. Las escalas de tiempo de variabilidad vertical aparecen concentradas en una amplia banda de frecuencias alrededor de los periodos inerciales semidiurnos y locales dentro de las capas WIW y LIW ; This work was supported by the projects VA-DE-RETRO (CTM2014-56987-P), funded by the Spanish government. EU funded J.S. through the project Marine-Vectors (FP7-KBBE 266445). J.S. also acknowledges a CSIC JAE-Doc contract co-funded by the ESF ; Peer Reviewed
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Mixing dynamics on the inner shelf of the Ebro Delta ; Dinámica de mezcla en la plataforma continental del Ebro
Special volume: Advances in Spanish physical oceanography. Scientia Marina 76(Suppl.1) 2012.-- 13 pages, 12 figures, 1 table ; [EN] Turbidity, CTD, and temperature and shear microstructure data recorded along a 25 km transect from 8 to 69 m depth across the Ebro Delta shelf (northwestern Mediterranean) are presented. The water column was stratified and prior to the campaign the regional southwest flow was measured to have superimposed diurnal and sub-inertial components. The bottom boundary layer (BBL) at all stations deeper than 20 m has a vertical extension of 3 to 9 m, increasing to 12 m at the deeper stations and even to 14 m at a station at 45 m depth outside the studied transect. The law of the wall was identified at almost all stations with an extension ranging from 40% to 100% of that of the BBL. At some stations high dissipation rates were found in the interior of the bottom layer. The study shows the correspondence between the turbidity contents and the local mixing processes at the BBL and suggests that sub-critical reflection of internal waves could play an important role in boundary mixing. Our data also suggest that during the campaign, after two consecutive short episodes of high winds, the first baroclinic mode shifted to the second one ; [ES] Se presentan datos de turbidez, CTD y microestructura (temperatura y cizalla) a lo largo de un transecto a través de la plataforma continental del Delta del Ebro, desde 8 a 69 m de profundidad, en la parte noroeste del mar Mediterráneo. La columna de agua estaba estratificada e inmediatamente antes de la campaña la corriente cerca del fondo presentaba periodicidades diarias y sub-inerciales. La extensión vertical de la capa de fondo (BBL) en las estaciones más profundas de 20 m varía entre 3 y 9 metros, pero alcanza los 12 m en la estación más profunda y es de 14 m en otra estación situada a 45 m de profundidad no incluida en el transecto. Se ha detectado la existencia de la ley de la pared en casi todas las estaciones, ocupando una extensión entre el 40% y el 100% de la BBL. En algunas estaciones la disipación aumenta en el interior de la BBL. Los datos muestran la correspondencia en la BBL entre la distribución de turbidez y los procesos físicos de mezcla locales y sugieren que la reflexión cuasi crítica de las ondasinternas podría jugar un papel importante en la mezcla en el fondo. Nuestros datos tanbien sugieren que durante la campaña y después de dos cortos episodios de viento fuerte, la estructura baroclínia cambió de un primer a un segundo modo ; We are grateful to M. Demestre for allowing us to be on board the Garcia de Cid within the context of the VEDA Project and the EU RESPONSE (Q5RS-2002-00787) project and for facilitating the measurements. [.] This paper was finished in accordance with the objectives of the project CGL2008-03608 funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government and within the framework of the CLIMSEAS Project (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IRSES N. 247512) ; Peer reviewed
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Mixing dynamics on the inner shelf of the Ebro Delta
Turbidity, CTD, and temperature and shear microstructure data recorded along a 25 km transect from 8 to 69 m depth across the Ebro Delta shelf (northwestern Mediterranean) are presented. The water column was stratified and prior to the campaign the regional southwest flow was measured to have superimposed diurnal and sub-inertial components. The bottom boundary layer (BBL) at all stations deeper than 20 m has a vertical extension of 3 to 9 m, increasing to 12 m at the deeper stations and even to 14 m at a station at 45 m depth outside the studied transect. The law of the wall was identified at almost all stations with an extension ranging from 40% to 100% of that of the BBL. At some stations high dissipation rates were found in the interior of the bottom layer. The study shows the correspondence between the turbidity contents and the local mixing processes at the BBL and suggests that sub-critical reflection of internal waves could play an important role in boundary mixing. Our data also suggest that during the campaign, after two consecutive short episodes of high winds, the first baroclinic mode shifted to the second one ; We are grateful to M. Demestre for allowing us to be on board the Garcia de Cid within the context of the VEDA Project and the EU RESPONSE (Q5RS-2002- 00787) project and for facilitating the measurements. We are also very grateful to the editor and the anonymous reviewers, whose comments have helped to improve the first version of the paper. I. Lozovatsky and M Muñiz collaborated on the data analysis at an initial stage of this work. This paper was finished in accordance with the objectives of the project CGL2008-03608 funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government and within the framework of the CLIMSEAS Project (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IRSES N. 247512)
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Mixing dynamics on the inner shelf of the Ebro Delta
Turbidity, CTD, and temperature and shear microstructure data recorded along a 25 km transect from 8 to 69 m depth across the Ebro Delta shelf (northwestern Mediterranean) are presented. The water column was stratified and prior to the campaign the regional southwest flow was measured to have superimposed diurnal and sub-inertial components. The bottom boundary layer (BBL) at all stations deeper than 20 m has a vertical extension of 3 to 9 m, increasing to 12 m at the deeper stations and even to 14 m at a station at 45 m depth outside the studied transect. The law of the wall was identified at almost all stations with an extension ranging from 40% to 100% of that of the BBL. At some stations high dissipation rates were found in the interior of the bottom layer. The study shows the correspondence between the turbidity contents and the local mixing processes at the BBL and suggests that sub-critical reflection of internal waves could play an important role in boundary mixing. Our data also suggest that during the campaign, after two consecutive short episodes of high winds, the first baroclinic mode shifted to the second one ; We are grateful to M. Demestre for allowing us to be on board the Garcia de Cid within the context of the VEDA Project and the EU RESPONSE (Q5RS-2002- 00787) project and for facilitating the measurements. We are also very grateful to the editor and the anonymous reviewers, whose comments have helped to improve the first version of the paper. I. Lozovatsky and M Muñiz collaborated on the data analysis at an initial stage of this work. This paper was finished in accordance with the objectives of the project CGL2008-03608 funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government and within the framework of the CLIMSEAS Project (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IRSES N. 247512)
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Mixing dynamics on the inner shelf of the Ebro Delta
Turbidity, CTD, and temperature and shear microstructure data recorded along a 25 km transect from 8 to 69 m depth across the Ebro Delta shelf (northwestern Mediterranean) are presented. The water column was stratified and prior to the campaign the regional southwest flow was measured to have superimposed diurnal and sub-inertial components. The bottom boundary layer (BBL) at all stations deeper than 20 m has a vertical extension of 3 to 9 m, increasing to 12 m at the deeper stations and even to 14 m at a station at 45 m depth outside the studied transect. The law of the wall was identified at almost all stations with an extension ranging from 40% to 100% of that of the BBL. At some stations high dissipation rates were found in the interior of the bottom layer. The study shows the correspondence between the turbidity contents and the local mixing processes at the BBL and suggests that sub-critical reflection of internal waves could play an important role in boundary mixing. Our data also suggest that during the campaign, after two consecutive short episodes of high winds, the first baroclinic mode shifted to the second one ; We are grateful to M. Demestre for allowing us to be on board the Garcia de Cid within the context of the VEDA Project and the EU RESPONSE (Q5RS-2002- 00787) project and for facilitating the measurements. We are also very grateful to the editor and the anonymous reviewers, whose comments have helped to improve the first version of the paper. I. Lozovatsky and M Muñiz collaborated on the data analysis at an initial stage of this work. This paper was finished in accordance with the objectives of the project FIS2008-03608 funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government and within the framework of the CLIMSEAS Project (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IRSES N. 247512)
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Long-term seafloor morphological changes generated by bottom trawling on the northern Catalan continental shelf (NW Mediterranean)
European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly, 19–30 Apr 2021.-- 2 pages.-- The authors wish to thank the Secretaría General de Pesca and Tragsa for the 2004 Espace Project dataset ; The north-western Mediterranean continental margin is one of the few regions in the world where bottom trawling has been continuously practised since several decades. Among the existing trawling techniques, the one practised on this region is the "otter trawling", which has a strong impact on the seafloor morphology via scraping and ploughing, especially on muddy substrates. High-resolution multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data, side scan sonar images, sediment cores and satellite based Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data have been integrated to investigate the impact of bottom trawling on the seafloor morphology of the northern Catalan continental shelf (NW Mediterranean). Satellite-based navigation tracks from bottom trawlers operating in the study area during 6 years (2006-2011) reveal the spatial distribution of fishing grounds and the occurrence of an intense trawling effort around the 50-60 m isobaths, since trawling is banned at shallow depths. Backscatter imagery shows a narrow (120-250 m wide) and discontinuous high backscatter facies along this depth range, extending parallel to the coastline for more than 40 km from Portbou to l'Estartit. In the bathymetric data, this high backscatter region also coincides with an abrupt change in the mean seafloor gradient (from 0.8° in the inner shelf to 0.4° in the middle shelf), or locally with a narrow (50-150 m wide) slightly depressed (0.2-0.6 m deep) channeled morphology. Side-scan sonar images display high density of trawl marks generated by fishing gears in this area. Further offshore, scattered narrower trawl hauls are also observed on the middle shelf (60-90 m deep), where they can be traced across several thousands of meters. Sediment cores retrieved from the area of high backscatter and largest trawling intensity display sediment coarsening in the upper layers (0-4 cm) caused by winnowing of finer fractions. These findings demonstrate that chronic stirring, mixing and erosion of surface sediments induced by recurrent trawling persisting over the same fishing grounds can cause long-term morphological and sedimentary changes on the continental shelf seafloor ; This study has received funding from the ABIDES (Assessment of Bottom-trawling Impacts in the Deep-sea Sediments) Spanish Research Project (CTM2015-65142-R) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 867471. Additional funds were provided by the Generalitat de Catalunya Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR-663 and -1588) and by the Spanish Research Project ABRIC (RTI2018-096434-B-I00). This work is contributing to the ICM's 'Center of Excellence' Severo Ochoa (CEX2019-000928-S) ; Peer reviewed
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Short-term evolution of submarine canyon head morphologies in the NW Mediterranean: Blanes and Cap de Creus canyons
European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly, 19–30 Apr 2021.-- 2 pages.-- The authors wish to thank the Secretaría General de Pesca and Tragsa for the 2004 Espace Project dataset ; Submarine canyons are morphological features found along continental margins that play a key role channeling and connecting sediment from continental shelves to the abyssal plains. The current morphological characterization of the Blanes and Cap de Creus canyon heads, located on the Catalan continental margin (NW Mediterranean Sea), has been recently conducted during the CRIMA cruise in September 2020 using high-resolution (4 m grid size) multibeam bathymetry data. These data have been compared with a previous dataset collected in 2004 during the ESPACE project to evaluate the morphological changes during this 16-year interval. Since these canyon heads are located at shallow water depths and at short distances from the shoreline, their short-term evolution is related to the sediment dynamics on the continental shelf. A large-scale change in the seafloor morphology was observed in the Blanes canyon head, indicating the prevalence of erosion in the western canyon rim and non-deposition in the eastern rim. In the Cap de Creus canyon head, the excavation of pre-existing erosive structures was also evidenced in the southwestern canyon rim. These changes mainly happen in the area where the shelf is narrower, which coincide with the main zone of dense water advection along the shelf and toward the canyon interior. The different small-scale morphological evolution between both canyon heads seems to be related to the local geological characteristic of the subsurface deposits of the continental shelf. The Blanes canyon head incises a succession of relict (Holocene) sediment bodies that can act as a source of erodible sediments to the canyon, mainly during strong storms. The continental shelf in the vicinity of the Cap de Creus canyon head, however, is characterized by a rocky substratum (Paleozoic) with a limited sediment coverage and numerous erosive features that evidence relative sand starvation. This creates a greater erosive resistance, although the erosive character of strong storms and major dense-shelf water cascading events occurring during the studied time interval is evident. Additionally, small changes in the shelf bedforms indicate that such high-energetic oceanographic processes also modify the fine-scale seafloor morphology. These results reveal that both submarine canyon heads are dynamic and sensitive to oceanographic processes that enhance the erosion and transport of sediment from the shelf into the canyon, particularly during energetic storms and dense shelf water cascading events. Nevertheless, their small-scale evolution seems to be closely related to the type of geological substrate of the shelf on which they are developing ; This study has received funding from the ABRIC (RTI2018-096434-B-I00) and CRIMA (RTI2018-095770-B-I00) Spanish Research Projects, the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 867471 and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR-663 and -1588). This work is contributing to the ICM's 'Center of Excellence' Severo Ochoa (CEX2019-000928-S) ; Peer reviewed
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Natural vs. trawling-induced water turbidity and suspended sediment transport variability within the Palamós Canyon (NW Mediterranean)
22 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables.-- Dataset https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/13748 ; Increases of water turbidity and suspended sediment transport in submarine canyons have been associated with high-energy events such as storms, river floods and dense shelf water cascading (DSWC), and occasionally with bottom trawling along canyon flanks and rims. To assess the variations on the water column turbidity and sediment transport in the Palamós Canyon linked to both natural and trawling-induced processes, an autonomous hydrographic profiler, as well as a near-bottom current meter and a turbidimeter were deployed in the canyon axis (929 m depth) from February to June 2017, covering a trawling closure (February) and trawling activities (March-June). Periods of enhanced water turbidity during the trawling closure were mostly associated with storms and DSWC events, transporting turbid dense waters into the canyon. In absence of such events, the water column displayed low suspended sediment concentrations (~ 0.3 mg L− 1) until the trawling season began, when particulate matter detachments, ranging between > 1 mg L− 1 and 3.8 mg L− 1, were observed at the water depths where the trawling grounds are found. During the trawling closure, high near-bottom suspended sediment fluxes (35–44 g m− 2 s− 1) were sporadically registered at ~ 920 m depth associated with a major storm and DSWC event. Smaller but more frequent increases of near-bottom suspended sediment fluxes (0.1–1.4 g m− 2 s− 1) were recorded during trawling activities. Despite these smaller trawling-induced suspended sediment fluxes, 30 days of continuous bottom trawling activity transported a total amount of 40 kg m− 2, of similar magnitude to that generated by a major DSWC event (50 kg m− 2). Since bottom trawling in Palamós Canyon is practiced on a daily basis throughout the year, a much larger contribution of anthropogenically derived water turbidity and suspended sediment transport can be expected ; This work has been supported by the ABIDES (CTM2015-65142) Spanish Project and by the autonomous government of Catalonia grants 2017 SGR 863 and 2017 SGR 1241, as well as by the TrawledSeas Project receiving funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under a MSCA grant agreement (No. 867471). M. Arjona-Camas is supported by a predoctoral FPI grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness ; With the institutional support of the 'Severo OchoaCentre of Excellence' accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) ; Peer reviewed
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High spatiotemporal variability in meiofaunal assemblages in Blanes Canyon (NW Mediterranean) subject to anthropogenic and natural disturbances
14 páginas, 6 tablas, 4 figuras ; We investigated the natural and anthropogenic drivers controlling the spatiotemporal distribution of the meiofauna in the submarine Blanes Canyon, and its adjacent western slope (NW Mediterranean margin of the Iberian Peninsula). We analyzed the relationships between the main sedimentary environmental variables (i.e. grain size, Chl-a, Chl-a: phaeopigments, CPE, organic carbon and total nitrogen) and the density and structure of the meiofaunal assemblages along a bathymetric gradient (from 500 to 2000 m depth) in spring and autumn of 2012 and 2013. Twenty-one and 16 major taxa were identified for respectively the canyon and slope, where the assemblages were always dominated by nematodes. The gradual decreasing meiofaunal densities with increasing depth at the slope showed little variability among stations and corresponded with a uniform pattern of food availability. The canyon was environmentally much more variable and sediments contained greater amounts of food resources (Chl-a and CPE) throughout, leading not only to increased meiofaunal densities compared to the slope, but also different assemblages in terms of composition and structure. This variability in the canyon is only partly explained by seasonal food inputs. The high densities found at 900 m and 1200 m depth coincided with significant increases in food availability compared to shallower and deeper stations in the canyon. Our results suggest that the disruption in expected bathymetric decrease in densities at 900–1200 m water depth coincided with noticeable changes in the environmental variables typical for disturbance and deposition events (e.g., higher sand content and CPE), evoking the hypothesis of an anthropogenic effect at these depths in the canyon. The increased downward particle fluxes at 900–1200 m depth caused by bottom trawling along canyon flanks, as reported in previous studies, support our hypothesis and allude to a substantial anthropogenic factor influencing benthic assemblages at these depths. The possible relationships of the observed patterns and some major natural environmental (e.g., surface productivity or dense shelf water cascading) and anthropogenic (e.g. the lateral advection and downward transport of food-enriched sediments resuspended by the daily canyonflank trawling activities) drivers are discussed. ; This research has been supported by DOS MARES (Ref. CTM2010-21810-C03-03) research project, funded by the Spanish State Research Plan, and to the Consolidated Research Group on Marine Benthic Ecology of the "Generalitat de Catalunya (2014SGR120)". C. Romano received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Action) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement N. PIOF-GA-2013-628146. J. Ingels was supported by a Plymouth Marine Laboratory Post-doctoral Research Fellowship in collaboration with University of Exeter and a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship within the 7th European Commission Framework Programme (Grant Agreement FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF no. 00879). ; Peer reviewed
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