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Published March 14, 2017 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Historical changes of the Mediterranean Sea ecosystem: modelling the role and impact of primary productivity and fisheries changes over time

  • 1. Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC), Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta, n° 39-45 08003 Barcelona, Spain; European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Directorate D – Sustainable Resources, via Enrico Fermi 2749, I-21027 Ispra, Italy
  • 2. Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC), Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta, n° 39-45 08003 Barcelona, Spain; Ecopath International Initiative Research Association, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - UMR MARBEC (MARine Biodiverity Exploitation & Conservation) Avenue Jean Monnet, BP 171 34203 Sète Cedex, France
  • 3. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Directorate D – Sustainable Resources, via Enrico Fermi 2749, I-21027 Ispra, Italy
  • 4. Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Main Mall 2202, V6T1Z4 Vancouver, Canada
  • 5. Ecopath International Initiative Research Association, Barcelona, Spain
  • 6. Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC), Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta, n° 39-45 08003 Barcelona, Spain; Ecopath International Initiative Research Association, Barcelona, Spain
  • 7. Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy; Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, 80121 Naples, Italy
  • 8. Ecopath International Initiative Research Association, Barcelona, Spain; 5Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Main Mall 2202, V6T1Z4 Vancouver, Canada

Description

The Mediterranean Sea has been defined “under siege” because of intense pressures from multiple human activities; yet there is still insufficient information on the cumulative impact of these stressors on the ecosystem and its resources. We evaluate how the historical (1950–2011) trends of various ecosystems groups/species have been impacted by changes in primary productivity (PP) combined with fishing pressure. We investigate the whole Mediterranean Sea using a food web modelling approach. Results indicate that both changes in PP and fishing pressure played an important role in driving species dynamics. Yet, PP was the strongest driver upon the Mediterranean Sea ecosystem. This highlights the importance of bottom-up processes in controlling the biological characteristics of the region. We observe a reduction in abundance of important fish species (~34%, including commercial and noncommercial) and top predators (~41%), and increases of the organisms at the bottom of the food web (~23%). Ecological indicators, such as community biomass, trophic levels, catch and diversity indicators, reflect such changes and show overall ecosystem degradation over time. Since climate change and fishing pressure are expected to intensify in the Mediterranean Sea, this study constitutes a baseline reference for stepping forward in assessing the future management of the basin.

Notes

This document is the accepted Authors' Copy of the paper published in Scientific Reports, 7, 44491; doi: 10.1038/ srep44491. The original manuscript was received on 22 September 2016, accepted on 08 February 2017 and published on 14 March 2017. M.C. acknowledges support by the European Commission through the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant Fellowships – PCIG10-GA-2011-303534 - to the BIOWEB project. RD, MC and JS were partially funded by the European Union's Horizon research and innovation programme grant agreement No 689518 for the MERCES project. VC acknowledges support through NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2014-05782. This paper reflects only the authors' views and the funders cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained there in. Copyright © 2016. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http:// creativecommons.org /licenses/by/4.0/).

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Funding

MERCES – Marine Ecosystem Restoration in Changing European Seas 689518
European Commission