Understanding the response of the Western Mediterranean cephalopods to environment and fishing in a context of alleged winners of change.

Increasing impacts of both fisheries and climate change have resulted in shifts in the structure and functioning of marine communities. One recurrent observation is the rise of cephalopods as fish recede. This is generally attributed to the removal of main predators and competitors by fishing, while mechanistic evidence is still lacking.

Spatial patterns of β-diversity under cumulative pressures in the Western Mediterranean Sea.

Understanding the spatial dynamics of biodiversity is an essential issue in marine ecology and requires combining information at local and regional scales. β-diversity is an important measure of biodiversity that informs on the differences in community composition between sites and, thus, in the species turnover in the community structure. In this study, we analysed and predicted the spatial patterns of β-diversity for fishes, invertebrates and the demersal assemblage along the Iberian Mediterranean coast.

The trade-off between condition and growth shapes juveniles' survival of harvested demersal fish of the Mediterranean sea.

Fish body condition and growth are two interrelated traits closely associated with species life history and fitness, whose trade-off can ultimately impact population dynamics albeit seldom empirically demonstrated. They can intricately affect survival rates, which are particularly relevant for species under exploitation. Using individual spatiotemporal information in Northwestern Mediterranean, we document for the first time the existence of a trade-off between condition and growth in regulating survival dynamics in two important fish species for the Mediterranean fisheries that are characterized by contrasting life histories.

Sardines at a junction: Seascape genomics reveals ecological and oceanographic drivers of variation in the NW Mediterranean Sea.

By evaluating genetic variation across the entire genome, one can address existing questions in a novel way while raising new ones. The latter includes how different local environments influence adaptive and neutral genomic variation within and among populations, providing insights into local adaptation of natural populations and their responses to global change. Here, under a seascape genomic approach, ddRAD data of 4609 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 398 sardines (Sardina pilchardus) collected in 11 Mediterranean and one Atlantic site were generated.

Resilience dynamics and productivity-driven shifts in the marine communities of the Western Mediterranean Sea.

Ecological resilience has become a conceptual cornerstone bridging ecological processes to conservation needs. Global change is increasingly associated with local changes in environmental conditions that can cause abrupt ecosystem reorganizations attending to system-specific resilience fluctuations with time (i.e.

Trophic niche overlap between round sardinella () and sympatric pelagic fish species in the Western Mediterranean.

The northward expansion of round sardinella () in the Mediterranean Sea, together with declines and fluctuations in biomass and landings of European sardine () and anchovy () observed in recent decades, may suggest potential inter-specific competition in the pelagic domain. The coexistence of sympatric zooplanktivorous fish species might therefore be exposed in part to trophic niche overlap and competition for food. Combining visual diet characterization under the microscope with DNA metabarcoding from stomach contents of fish collected in spring results show that predation on relatively large krill is equally important for sardinella than for the other two niche overlapping species.

Organophosphate ester plasticizers in edible fish from the Mediterranean Sea: Marine pollution and human exposure.

Concentrations of organophosphate esters (OPEs) plasticizers were analysed in the present study. Fifty-five fish samples belonging to three highly commercial species, European sardine (Sardina pilchardus), European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), and European hake (Merluccius merluccius), were taken from the Western Mediterranean Sea. OPEs were detected in all individuals, except for two hake samples, with concentrations between 0.

A trophic latitudinal gradient revealed in anchovy and sardine from the Western Mediterranean Sea using a multi-proxy approach.

This work combines state-of-the-art methods (DNA metabarcoding) with classic approaches (visual stomach content characterization and stable isotope analyses of nitrogen (δN) and carbon (δC)) to investigate the trophic ecology of anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and sardine (Sardina pilchardus) at high taxonomic and spatial resolution in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Gut contents observed are in accordance with the dietary plasticity generally described for anchovy and sardine, suggesting a diet related to the opportunistic ingestion of available prey in a certain area and/or time. Genetic tools also showed modest inter-specific differences regarding ingested species.

Ingestion of microplastics and occurrence of parasite association in Mediterranean anchovy and sardine.

We quantified the incidence of microplastics in the gut contents of the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus) and anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea and tested which variables influence this abundance, including the prevalence of parasites (i.e., trematoda larvae and nematodes).

The diversity of recent trends for chondrichthyans in the Mediterranean reflects fishing exploitation and a potential evolutionary pressure towards early maturation.

Chondrichthyans are a vulnerable group that has been overexploited for almost half a century in the Mediterranean. Since in this area most chondrichthyans are rarely incorporated into international statistics, the impact of fishing on their populations is difficult to assess. Here, we evaluate temporal trends in order to understand the recent history of chondrichthyans in the western Mediterranean.

Tau is required for the function of extrasynaptic NMDA receptors.

Tau is a microtubule-associated neuronal protein found mainly in axons. However, increasing evidence indicates that it is also present in dendrites, where it serves as an essential mediator of synaptic NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor-dependent excitotoxicity. Of note, NMDA receptors can also be found outside synapses in the plasma membrane, and activation of extrasynaptic NMDA receptors has been shown to be more linked to excitotoxicity than the activation of synaptic ones.

Pollutants and parasites in bycatch teleosts from south eastern Spanish Mediterranean's fisheries: Concerns relating the foodstuff harnessing.

This research provides an evaluation of the quality and health status of some locally abundant fish species, usually otter-trawl bycatch species. The study was conducted in the southern and eastern Spanish Mediterranean coast. Mean concentration of heavy metals in muscle and parasitisation indices showed moderate levels.

Large-Scale Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Mediterranean Cephalopod Diversity.

Species diversity is widely recognized as an important trait of ecosystems' functioning and resilience. Understanding the causes of diversity patterns and their interaction with the environmental conditions is essential in order to effectively assess and preserve existing diversity. While diversity patterns of most recurrent groups such as fish are commonly studied, other important taxa such as cephalopods have received less attention.

Spatially Explicit Modeling Reveals Cephalopod Distributions Match Contrasting Trophic Pathways in the Western Mediterranean Sea.

Populations of the same species can experience different responses to the environment throughout their distributional range as a result of spatial and temporal heterogeneity in habitat conditions. This highlights the importance of understanding the processes governing species distribution at local scales. However, research on species distribution often averages environmental covariates across large geographic areas, missing variability in population-environment interactions within geographically distinct regions.