Abstract. In the western Mediterranean Sea, the RADMED monitoring programme is already conducting several of the evaluations required under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MFSD) along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. The different aspects of the ecosystem that are regularly sampled under this monitoring programme are the physical environment and the chemical and biological variables of the water column, together with the planktonic communities, biomass and structure. Moreover, determinations of some anthropogenic stressors on the marine environment, such as contaminants and microplastics, are under development.Data are managed and stored at the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO) Data Centre that works under the SeaDataNet infrastructure, and are also stored in the IBAMar database. In combination with remote sensing data, they are used to address open questions on the ecosystems in the western Mediterranean Sea.
Abstract. In the Western Mediterranean, the IEO-RADMED monitoring program is already conducting many of the evaluations required under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MFSD) along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. The different aspects of the ecosystem that are regularly sampled under this monitoring program are the physical environment and the chemical and biological variables of the water column, together with the planktonic communities, biomass and structure. Moreover, determinations of some anthropogenic stressors on the marine environment, as contaminants and microplastics, are under develop. Data are managed and stored at the IEO Data Center that works under the SeaDataNet infrastructure and are also stored under the IBAMar database. In combination with remote sensing data they are used to address open questions on the ecosystem in the Western Mediterranean sea.
Changes in the physiological condition (represented by Kn = body weight/lengthpredicted weight) of the deep-sea shrimp Aristeus antennatus associated with the warming and rising salinity trends in the western Mediterranean were analyzed to explore how deep-sea populations can reconfigure their biology to match the changes in ocean conditions. Two slope areas around the Balearic Islands (Western Mediterranean Sea) were analyzed using sampling data and generalized additive models. The 23 yr time series of monthly Kn estimates shows 2 different aspects of the life history of A. antennatus, corresponding to 2 different seasonal periods. The Kn series from June through September reflects the shrimps' reproductive condition to the north of the Islands, while samples from October through May represent a period of low gonad weight and high hepatosomatic indices to the south of the Islands. Oceanographic variables used to construct models and seek relationships with changes in Kn were salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen in the Levantine Intermediate Water and Western Mediterranean Deep Water layers, and chlorophyll a satellite imagery data. The North Atlantic Oscillation and the Eastern Atlantic index were used as climatic indicators. Physiologic condition during the winter fattening periods decreased over the time series and was negatively correlated with increasing salinity. During the summer reproductive periods, the best-fitting models show a year-on-year effect and a significant probability of effects on condition from oligotrophication. These results suggest that increasing salinity at depth, which ultimately increases oligotrophy, may cause changes in physiological condition.
The mesozooplankton community was analyzed over a 6-year period (2013-2018) during the post-eruptive stage of the submarine volcano Tagoro, located south of the island of El Hierro (Canary Archipelago, Spain). Nine cruises from March 2013 to March 2018 were carried out in two different seasons, spring (March-April) and autumn (October). A high-resolution study was carried out across the main cones of Tagoro volcano, as well as a large number of reference stations surrounding El Hierro (unaffected by the volcano). The zooplankton community at the reference stations showed a high similarity with more than 85% of the variation in abundance and composition attributable to seasonal differences. Moreover, our data showed an increase in zooplankton abundance in waters affected by the volcano with a higher presence of non-calanoid copepods and a decline in the diversity of the copepod community, indicating that volcanic inputs have a significant effect on these organisms. Fourteen different zooplankton groups were found but copepods were dominant (79%) with 59 genera and 170 species identified. Despite the high species number, less than 30 presented a larger abundance than 1%. Oncaea and Clausocalanus were the most abundant genera followed by Oithona and Paracalanus (60%). Nine species dominated (>2%): O. media, O. plumifera, and O. setigera among the non-calanoids and M. clausi, P. nanus, P. parvus, C. furcatus, C. arcuicornis, and N. minor among the calanoids. After the initial low abundance of the copepods as a consequence of the eruption, an increase was observed in the last years of the study, where besides the small Paracalanus and Clausocalanus, the Cyclopoids seem to have a good adaptive strategy to the new water conditions. The increase in zooplankton abundance and the decline in the copepod diversity in the area affected by the volcano indicate that important changes in the composition of the zooplankton community have occurred. The effect of the volcanic emissions on the different copepods was more evident in spring when the water was cooler and the mixing layer was deeper. Further and longer research is recommended to monitor the zooplankton community in the natural laboratory of the Tagoro submarine volcano.
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