The Status of Coastal Benthic Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: Evidence From Ecological Indicators

Frontiers in Marine Science

Elena Gissi¹  Antonios D. Mazaris²  Carlo Pipitone³  Vanessa Stelzenmüller⁴  Antonio Terlizzi⁵  Valentina Todorova⁶  Simonetta Fraschetti⁷  Stanislao Bevilacqua⁸  Gianluca Sarà⁹  Maria Sini^1,11  Stelios Katsanevakis^1,11  Dania Abdul Malak^1,12  Ameer Abdulla^1,12  Fiorenza Micheli^1,13  Vasilis Gerovasileiou^1,14  Enric Sala^1,15  Gil Rilov^1,16 

[1] 0Department of Architecture and Arts, University Iuav of Venice, Venice, Italy;1Department of Ecology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece;2Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto per lo Studio degli Impatti Antropici e Sostenibilità in Ambiente Marino, Palermo, Italy;3Thünen Institute, Institute of Sea Fisheries, Bremerhaven, Germany;4Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, Italy;5Institute of Oceanology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Varna, Bulgaria;6Department of Biology, Polytechnic and Basic Sciences School, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy;Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Rome, Italy;Department of Earth and Marine Science, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy;Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy;Department of Marine Sciences, School of Environment, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece;European Topic Centre, University of Malaga, Málaga, Spain;Hopkins Marine Station and Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, United States;Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Heraklion, Greece;National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, United States;National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa, Israel;

关键词: ecological quality ratio;    rocky intertidal;    rocky subtidal reefs;    seagrass beds;    soft bottoms;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmars.2020.00475

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The Mediterranean Sea is subject to multiple human pressures increasingly threatening its unique biodiversity. Spatially explicit information on the ecological status of marine ecosystems is therefore key to an effective maritime spatial planning and management, and to help the achievement of environmental targets. Here, we summarized scientific data on the ecological status of a selection of marine ecosystems based on a set of ecological indicators in more than 700 sites of the Mediterranean Sea. For Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds, rocky intertidal fringe, and coastal soft bottoms, more than 70% of investigated sites exhibited good to high ecological conditions. In contrast, about two-thirds of sites for subtidal rocky reefs were classified to be in moderate to bad conditions, stressing the need for prioritizing conservation initiatives on these productive and diverse environments. Very little quantitative information was available for the southern Mediterranean Sea, thus monitoring programs and assessments in this area are essential for a representative assessment of the health of marine coastal ecosystems in the whole basin. This overview represents a first step to implement a baseline that, through georeferenced data on ecological status, could help identifying information gaps, directing future research priorities, and supporting improvements to spatial models of expected cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems.

【 授权许可】

Unknown