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MEPS 584:105-118 (2017)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12342

Demersal cephalopod communities in the Mediterranean: a large-scale analysis

Stefanie Keller1,*, Manuel Hidalgo1, Diego Álvarez-Berastegui2, Isabella Bitetto3, Loredana Casciaro3, Danila Cuccu4, Antonio Esteban5, Germana Garofalo6, Maria Gonzalez7, Beatriz Guijarro1, Marios Josephides8, Angelique Jadaud9, Evgenia Lefkaditou10, Porzia Maiorano11, Chiara Manfredi12, Bojan Marceta13, Reno Micallef14, Panagiota Peristeraki15,16, Giulio Relini17, Paolo Sartor18, Maria Teresa Spedicato3, George Tserpes15, Antoni Quetglas1

1Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
2Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB), 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
3COISPA-Tecnologia & Ricerca, Stazione Sperimentale per lo Studio delle Risorse del Mare, 70126 Bari, Italy
4Dipartemento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Università di Cagliari, 09124 Cagliari, Italy
5Centro Oceanográfico de Murcia, San Pedro del Pinatar, 30740 Murcia, Spain
6IAMC - Coastal Marine Environment Institute - CNR, 91026 Mazara del Vallo (TP), Italy
7IEO, Centro Oceanográfico de Malaga, Fuengirola, 29640 Málaga, Spain
8Dept of Fisheries and Marine Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, 1416 Nicosia, Cyprus
9IFREMER, Laboratoire Halieutique Méditerranée, UMR MARBEC, 34203 Sète, France
10HCMR, Hellenic Centre of Marine Research, 16777 Athens, Greece
11University of Bari Aldo Moro - Department of Biology, 70125 Bari, Italy
12Laboratorio Biologia Marina e Pesca, Università di Bologna, 61032 Fano (PS), Italy
13Fishery Research Institute of Slovenia, 1211 Ljubljana-Smartno, Slovenia
14Ministry for Sustainable Development, Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, MRS 3303 Marsa, Malta
15HCMR, Hellenic Centre of Marine Research, 71003 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
16University of Crete, Biology Department, 71409 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
17SIBM, Società Italiana di Biologia Marina, Genova and DISTAV, Università di Genova, 16132 Genova, Italy
18CIBM - Centro Interuniversitario di Biologia Marina ed Ecologia Applicata, 57128 Livorno, Italy
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: Cephalopod assemblages at the scale of the entire Mediterranean Sea were analysed using information from 2 decades of standardized scientific bottom trawl surveys. Western and eastern assemblages (6 yr of data) were compared using a combined approach of multivariate ordination techniques and non-linear regressions. These methods enabled us to distinguish assemblages and simultaneously analyse the influence of geographic, bathymetric and environmental (sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a concentration) gradients on observed community patterns. Despite few differences in species composition between sub-basins, the relative contribution of species differed. Bathymetry was the primary structural driver for the cephalopod communities of both basins, and contributed to 3 assemblages (shallow water, upper slope and middle slope). Winter temperature influenced community assemblages more strongly in the western than in the eastern basin, in contrast to a small but consistent winter productivity influence on community assemblages in both basins. Thus, the environmental parameters analysed did not cause an immediate change in cephalopod assemblages, but rather an effect lagged by several months. Differences in the relative importance of environmental drivers show that different processes operate in the 2 basins. These results demonstrate similarities and differences between Mediterranean basins regarding important cephalopod functional groups. This information should help integrative ecosystem management approaches currently used in fisheries and conservation management.


KEY WORDS: Cephalopods · Mediterranean · Environmental gradients · Community analysis · Bottom trawl surveys · MEDITS


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Cite this article as: Keller S, Hidalgo M, Álvarez-Berastegui D, Bitetto I and others (2017) Demersal cephalopod communities in the Mediterranean: a large-scale analysis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 584:105-118. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12342

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