Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology.

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species.

Extensive oceanic mesopelagic habitat use of a migratory continental shark species.

The identification of movement and behaviour patterns, as well as inter- and intra-population connectivity is crucial in order to implement effective and functional management and conservation measures for threatened migratory species such as tope (Galeorhinus galeus). Yet, previous studies struggled to elucidate clear and consistent movement and depth usage patterns of adult tope in the Northeast Atlantic, suggesting a high plasticity in the migration and behaviour. We deployed pop-up satellite archival tags on adult tope during their seasonal summer aggregations in the inner German Bight of the south-eastern North Sea and near a presumed mating site in southwest Scotland.

Sea-ice derived meltwater stratification slows the biological carbon pump: results from continuous observations.

The ocean moderates the world's climate through absorption of heat and carbon, but how much carbon the ocean will continue to absorb remains unknown. The North Atlantic Ocean west (Baffin Bay/Labrador Sea) and east (Fram Strait/Greenland Sea) of Greenland features the most intense absorption of anthropogenic carbon globally; the biological carbon pump (BCP) contributes substantially. As Arctic sea-ice melts, the BCP changes, impacting global climate and other critical ocean attributes (e.

Low larval abundance in the Sargasso Sea: new evidence about reduced recruitment of the Atlantic eels.

The European eel Anguilla anguilla has shown decreased recruitment in recent decades. Despite increasing efforts to establish species recovery measures, it is unclear if the decline was caused by reduced numbers of reproductive-stage silver eels reaching the spawning area, low early larval survival, or increased larval mortality during migration to recruitment areas. To determine if larval abundances in the spawning area significantly changed over the past three decades, a plankton trawl sampling survey for anguillid leptocephali was conducted in March and April 2011 in the spawning area of the European eel that was designed to directly compare to collections made in the same way in 1983 and 1985.