1. Modelling the spatial distribution of Sardina pilchardus and Engraulis encrasicolus spawning habitat in the NW Mediterranean Sea
- Author
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Marta Coll, Maria Grazia Pennino, Matthias Wolff, Cesc Gordó-Vilaseca, Marta Albo-Puigserver, European Commission, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España), and Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Engraulis encrasicolus ,Eggs ,Fisheries ,Aquatic Science ,Coastal zone ,Oceanography ,Spatial distribution ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Larvae ,Engraulis ,Mediterranean sea ,Anchovy ,Mediterranean Sea ,Animals ,Species distribution models ,GAMs ,Ecosystem ,Sardina pilchardus ,biology ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,fungi ,Sardine ,Generalized additive model ,Fishes ,General Medicine ,biology.organism_classification ,Pollution ,Coastal zones ,Sea surface temperature ,Seafood ,Habitat ,Larva ,Environmental science - Abstract
12 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2021.105381, We investigated the main drivers of eggs and larvae distributions of European sardine and anchovy from the NW Mediterranean Sea. We used Generalized Additive Models and satellite environmental data. Mainly sea surface temperature, but also currents, surface height, and primary production were significantly correlated with both species’ early stages distributions. Anchovy optimal temperature upper limit was not detected, but sardine eggs and larvae presented a small-ranged bell-shape curve relationship to SST with an upper SST threshold around 13 °C. Sardine spawning during winter appeared to be dependant not only on in-situ environmental conditions but also on summer conditions prior to the spawning event. Model predictions of the larval and spawning habitat distribution showed clear differences between developmental stages and between species, confirming a worsening of the sardine habitat with time. Considering the further increase of surface temperature predicted in the years to come, the survival of the sardine in the region could be compromised, F.G-V. was supported by Erasmus+ Mobility for Traineeships scholarship (European Union). This study took advantage of data collected under the ECOTRANS Project (“Dynamics and ecological role of small pelagic fishes in the North Western Mediterranean: energy transfer from planktonic organisms to top predators”, National Spanish Plan, CTM2011-26333, 2012–2014) and is a contribution to the PELWEB project (“Winners, losers and shifts of PELagic food WEB changes in the western Mediterranean Sea: from ecosystem consequences to future projections”, CTM2017-88939-R, 2018–2020). MGP would like also to thank the project IMPRESS (RTI2018-099868-B-I00) project, ERDF, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities - State Research Agency. This work acknowledges the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) to the Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC)
- Published
- 2021