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

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Piroddi ◽  
Marta Coll ◽  
Camino Liquete ◽  
Diego Macias ◽  
Krista Greer ◽  
...  
2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (7) ◽  
pp. 1519-1534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Costa ◽  
Giorgio Bavestrello ◽  
Valerio Micaroni ◽  
Maurizio Pansini ◽  
Francesca Strano ◽  
...  

AbstractClimate change and heavy anthropic pressures are giving rise to important modifications in the rocky benthic communities of the Mediterranean Sea. In particular, sponge assemblages have been deeply affected due to the susceptibility of some species to dramatic phenomena such as mass mortalities or widespread variations in the abundance of other species. For this reason, long-term biodiversity monitoring of the sponge assemblages is important for understanding the direction of changes over time. We studied the sponge fauna living off Tricase Porto (Otranto Strait) and compared its composition with the results of a study conducted in the same area 50 years ago. The comparison indicated that the sponge diversity of this area has strongly increased in the last 50 years and a large number of the sponges recorded in the old survey are still present in the recent community. This evidence matches with other results obtained from different localities of the Mediterranean Sea indicating an increase of sponge diversity, possibly due to the present water warming. The description of two new Demosponge species, Diplastrella boeroi sp. nov. and Spirastrella angulata sp. nov., is also provided.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 113-135
Author(s):  
Edward Dąbrowa

In antiquity Cilicia was a small but important area. The geographical setting, between the Taurus Mountains, the Mediterranean Sea and Anatolia, and the fact that territory of Cilicia was crossed by several routes connecting Anatolia with the Mediterranean sea shore and Syria determined its strategic significance. The geography of the area held importance for its cultural development as well. The northern part of Cilicia, Cilicia Aspera, was mountainous, sparsely populated and poorly urbanized; cities were few and located mainly on the seashore. The southern part, Cilicia Pedias, was much more prosperous and intensively urbanized. Its location made it a bridge for various cultural and religious influences coming from neighboring countries, but also an object of their expansion. Both parts of Cilicia experienced governance of many powers: Achaemenid Persia, local rulers, Hellenistic kings, and the Romans. Each of them left own political and cultural imprint on the area. Effects of this cultural mixture are clearly visible in archaeological excavations and in many types of artefacts. Another type of evidence which reflects the complicated past of Cilicia is also available: numismatic evidence. There are a few Cilician cities in which coins were minted from the Achaemenid times to the Roman Empire. This paper attempts to look into the iconography of their coinage and analyze political and religious symbols and their subjects of depiction. The aim is to find out how specific powers ruling over cities influenced local traditions, what were the remnants of those, and how they eventually evolved over time.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 7229-7253
Author(s):  
C. Stumpp ◽  
A. Ekdal ◽  
I. E. Gönenc ◽  
P. Maloszewski

Abstract. Lagoons are important ecosystems occupying large coastal areas worldwide. Lagoons contain various mixtures of marine and freshwater sources which are highly dynamic in time. However, it often remains a challenge to identify and quantify dynamic changes of water sources, particularly in heterogeneous lagoon systems like the Köycegiz-Dalyan Lagoon (KDL), which is located at the southwest of Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea coast. The objective of this study was to quantify different contributions of potential water sources i.e. surface water, groundwater and seawater in the lagoon and how these water sources changed over time and space. In the wet and dry season stable isotopes of water, chloride concentration (Cl-) and salinity were measured in two depths in the lagoon and surrounding water bodies (sea, lake, groundwater). Different components of water sources were quantified with a three component endmember mixing analysis. Differences in Cl- and stable isotopes over time indicated the dynamic behaviour of the system. Generally, none of the groundwater samples was impacted by water of the Mediterranean Sea. During the wet season, most of the lagoon water (>95%) was influenced by freshwater and vertically well mixed. During the dry season, high Cl- in the deeper sampling locations indicated a high contribution of marine water throughout the entire lagoon system due to salt water intrusion. However, a distinct layering in the lagoon was obvious from low Cl- and depleted isotope contents close to the surface supporting freshwater inflow into the system even during the dry season. Besides temporal dynamics also spatial heterogeneities were identified. Changes in water sources were most evident in the main lagoon channel compared to more isolate lagoon lakes, which were influenced by marine water even in the wet season, and compared to side branches indicating slower turnover times. We found that environmental tracers helped to quantify contributions of different water sources in the Köycegiz-Dalyan Lagoon which is a highly dynamic and heterogeneous groundwater dependent ecosystem.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 544-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daffne C López-Sandoval ◽  
Antonio Delgado-Huertas ◽  
Susana Agustí

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Richon ◽  
Jean-Claude Dutay ◽  
Laurent Bopp ◽  
Briac Le Vu ◽  
James C. Orr ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Mediterranean region is a climate change hotspot. Increasing greenhouse gas emissions are projected to lead to a substantial warming of the Mediterranean Sea as well as major changes in its circulation, but the subsequent effects of such changes on marine biogeochemistry are poorly understood. Here, our aim is to investigate how climate change will affect nutrient concentrations and biological productivity in the Mediterranean Sea. To do so, we perform transient simulations with the coupled high-resolution model NEMOMED8-PISCES using the high-emission IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 socioeconomic scenario and corresponding Atlantic, Black Sea, and riverine nutrient inputs. Our results indicate that nitrate is accumulating in the Mediterranean Sea over the 21st century, while phosphorus shows no tendency. These contrasting changes result from an unbalanced nitrogen-to-phosphorus input from riverine discharge and fluxes via the Strait of Gibraltar, which lead to an expansion of phosphorus-limited regions across the Mediterranean. In addition, phytoplankton net primary productivity is reduced by 10 % in the 2090s in comparison to the present state, with reductions of up to 50 % in some regions such as the Aegean Sea as a result of nutrient limitation and vertical stratification. We also perform sensitivity tests to separately study the effects of climate and biogeochemical input changes on the future state of the Mediterranean Sea. Our results show that changes in nutrient supply from the Strait of Gibraltar and from rivers and circulation changes linked to climate change may have antagonistic or synergistic effects on nutrient concentrations and surface primary productivity. In some regions such as the Adriatic Sea, half of the biogeochemical changes simulated during the 21st century are linked with external changes in nutrient input, while the other half are linked to climate change. This study is the first to simulate future transient climate change effects on Mediterranean Sea biogeochemistry but calls for further work to characterize effects from atmospheric deposition and to assess the various sources of uncertainty.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 4825-4837 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Stumpp ◽  
A. Ekdal ◽  
I. E. Gönenc ◽  
P. Maloszewski

Abstract. Lagoons are important ecosystems occupying large coastal areas worldwide. Lagoons contain various mixtures of marine and freshwater sources which are highly dynamic in time. However, it often remains a challenge to identify and quantify dynamic changes of water sources, particularly in heterogeneous lagoon systems like the Köycegiz–Dalyan lagoon (KDL), which is located at the south-west of Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea coast. The objective of this study was to quantify different contributions of potential water sources i.e. surface water, groundwater and seawater in the lagoon and how these water sources changed over time and space. In the wet- and dry-season stable isotopes of water, chloride concentration (Cl-) and salinity were measured in two depths in the lagoon and surrounding water bodies (sea, lake, groundwater). Different components of water sources were quantified with a three component endmember mixing analysis. Differences in Cl- and stable isotopes over time indicated the dynamic behaviour of the system. Generally, none of the groundwater samples was impacted by water of the Mediterranean Sea. During the wet season, most of the lagoon water (> 95%) was influenced by freshwater and vertically well mixed. During the dry season, high Cl- in the deeper sampling locations indicated a high contribution of marine water throughout the entire lagoon system due to saltwater intrusion. However, a distinct layering in the lagoon was obvious from low Cl- and depleted isotope contents close to the surface supporting freshwater inflow into the system even during the dry season. Besides temporal dynamics also spatial heterogeneities were identified. Changes in water sources were most evident in the main lagoon channel compared to more isolate lagoon lakes, which were influenced by marine water even in the wet season, and compared to side branches indicating slower turnover times. We found that environmental tracers helped to quantify highly dynamic and heterogeneous contributions of different water sources in the Köycegiz–Dalyan lagoon.


VASA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 355-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Urban ◽  
Alban Fouasson-Chailloux ◽  
Isabelle Signolet ◽  
Christophe Colas Ribas ◽  
Mathieu Feuilloy ◽  
...  

Abstract. Summary: Background: We aimed at estimating the agreement between the Medicap® (photo-optical) and Radiometer® (electro-chemical) sensors during exercise transcutaneous oxygen pressure (tcpO2) tests. Our hypothesis was that although absolute starting values (tcpO2rest: mean over 2 minutes) might be different, tcpO2-changes over time and the minimal value of the decrease from rest of oxygen pressure (DROPmin) results at exercise shall be concordant between the two systems. Patients and methods: Forty seven patients with arterial claudication (65 + / - 7 years) performed a treadmill test with 5 probes each of the electro-chemical and photo-optical devices simultaneously, one of each system on the chest, on each buttock and on each calf. Results: Seventeen Medicap® probes disconnected during the tests. tcpO2rest and DROPmin values were higher with Medicap® than with Radiometer®, by 13.7 + / - 17.1 mm Hg and 3.4 + / - 11.7 mm Hg, respectively. Despite the differences in absolute starting values, changes over time were similar between the two systems. The concordance between the two systems was approximately 70 % for classification of test results from DROPmin. Conclusions: Photo-optical sensors are promising alternatives to electro-chemical sensors for exercise oximetry, provided that miniaturisation and weight reduction of the new sensors are possible.


2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda Olff ◽  
Mirjam Nijdam ◽  
Kristin Samuelson ◽  
Julia Golier ◽  
Mariel Meewisse ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document