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Pteropods are a group of cosmopolitan holoplanktic gastropods that produce an aragonite shell and play an important role in both marine ecosystems and geochemical cycles. In addition to being affected by anthropogenic impacts that include warming and changes in carbonate system parameters, the Mediterranean Sea is considered to be understudied concerning pteropods dynamics and abundances. This work aims to document the modern spatial and temporal distributions of pteropods populations in the Northwestern and Central Mediterranean Sea (Gulf of Lions and Strait of Sicily), respectively. We present data from two sediment-trap records that cover the timeframe between early 1996 and early 2004 for the Gulf of Lions and late 2013 to late 2014 for the Sicily Strait. A total of 843 pteropod shells and 18 different species were identified. Limacina inflata, Creseis virgula and Creseis clava were the most abundant species in the Gulf of Lions, while in the Sicily Strait, C. conica replaced C. clava as the most abundant species. These taxons represented around 70% of the total individuals identified in both sites. Overall, our results suggest a greater pteropod abundance in the Gulf of Lions than in the Sicily Strait, most likely due to enhanced food conditions. In the Gulf of Lions, maximum fluxes occurred in autumn (32.5% of the annual pteropod fluxes registered in October), while in the Sicily Strait peak fluxes occurred in winter (30.5% of the annual pteropod fluxes registered in January). Comparison of temporal changes pteropod fluxes with satellite sea surface temperature (SST), and chlorophyll-a concentration suggest a possible positive effect of high algal accumulation and cool water conditions in the Strait of Sicily on the main pteropod groups. In turn, no clear relationships between pteropod groups, SST and chlorophyll-a were identified in the Gulf of Lions, highlighting the effect of salinity and carbonate system parameters. Overall, and despite the limitations associated with the use of sediment traps for pteropod population monitoring, the consistency of our results with the literature supports the use of sediment traps as useful tools for documenting the diversity and temporal distribution of pteropods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Pollution by large-sized plastics and microplastic debris is widespread in all Earth environments, also threatening marine ecosystems worldwide. In this study we determine the load of microplastics in the Western Mediterranean Sea and evaluate their aggregation potential into marine aggregates. We report average microplastic abundances of 0.10 ± 0.09 items m−2 (max: 0.50 items m−2). Abundances and chemical composition of microplastics are subject to temporal changes as a function of human activities in the areas of influence and shifting meteorological and sea-state conditions. We find that microplastics were on average smaller in mass than other studies conducted in the Mediterranean Sea indicating longer exposure times in the environment. The microplastic aggregation potential was determined by inspecting formed biogenic aggregates either during sample collection or in the laboratory. Smaller and more angular microplastics dominated in marine aggregates, representing an average 40% in abundance and 25% in mass of microplastics. Highlights • Microplastic concentrations averaged 0.10 ± 0.09 items m−2 and 0.03 ± 0.02 mg m−2. • Reduced sizes and mass of microplastics were found in relation to other studies. • 40% in abundance and 25% in mass of microplastics incorporated into aggregates. • Marine aggregates would behave both as floats and ballasts for microplastics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, we investigate the strength and efficiency of carbon sequestration in the Southern European Seas (SES), by analyzing the export of POC at three deep sites located in the Western Mediterranean Sea (WMED), the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMED) and the Black Sea (BS). We combine estimations of satellite and algorithm-generated primary production data, calculated POC fluxes out of the euphotic layer and POC fluxes measured by sediment traps at the mesopelagic and bathypelagic layers during a one year period, with an ultimate goal to obtain a better understanding of the functioning of the biological pump in the SES. Annual particulate primary production based on satellite estimations (SeaWiFS) at the three sites, averages 205, 145 and 225gCm−2 y−1 at the WMED, EMED and BS, respectively. According to our findings, the fraction of primary production that is exported out of the euphotic zone in the SES ranges between 4.2% and 11.4%, while the fraction reaching the mesopelagic layer (1000–1400m depth) ranges between 0.6% and 1.8%. Finally, the fraction of primary production exported at the bathypelagic layer (2000–2800m depth) is found to be 0.6%, 0.3% and 1.4% in the WMED, EMED and BS, respectively. The role of various processes responsible for the replenishment of surface waters with nutrients, giving rise to productivity episodes and organic carbon export to depth at the three SES sites is considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this study, we investigate the strength and efficiency of carbon sequestration in the Southern European Seas (SES), by analyzing the export of POC at three deep sites located in the Western Mediterranean Sea (WMED), the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMED) and the Black Sea (BS). We combine estimations of satellite and algorithm-generated primary production data, calculated POC fluxes out of the euphotic layer and POC fluxes measured by sediment traps at the mesopelagic and bathypelagic layers during a one year period, with an ultimate goal to obtain a better understanding of the functioning of the biological pump in the SES. Annual particulate primary production based on satellite estimations (SeaWiFS) at the three sites, averages 205, 145 and 225gCm−2 y−1 at the WMED, EMED and BS, respectively. According to our findings, the fraction of primary production that is exported out of the euphotic zone in the SES ranges between 4.2% and 11.4%, while the fraction reaching the mesopelagic layer (1000–1400m depth) ranges between 0.6% and 1.8%. Finally, the fraction of primary production exported at the bathypelagic layer (2000–2800m depth) is found to be 0.6%, 0.3% and 1.4% in the WMED, EMED and BS, respectively. The role of various processes responsible for the replenishment of surface waters with nutrients, giving rise to productivity episodes and organic carbon export to depth at the three SES sites is considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Natural episodic events, such as gravity flows, submarine landslides, and benthic storms can determine severe modifications in the structure and functioning of deep-sea ecosystems. Here, we report and compare the ecosystem effects produced by dense water formation events that occurred in the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean) and the Aegean Sea (NE Mediterranean). In both regions, the rapid sinking of cold dense waters, driven by regional meteorological forcings, results in important immediate modifications that can be summarised in: (i) increased organic matter content in the deep basin; (ii) diminished benthic abundance; and (iii) changes of benthic biodiversity. At longer time scale the analysis reveals, however, different resilience times in the two regions. The Gulf of Lions is characterized by a very fast (months) recovery whereas the Aegean Sea shows much longer (>5 years) resilience time. New long-term studies are further needed to identify the potential effects that changes in the duration, intensity and frequency of episodic events could have on the structure, biodiversity and functioning of the deep Mediterranean Sea under environmental and climate change scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial seabed mining is expected to cause significant impacts on marine ecosystems, including physical disturbance and the generation of plumes of toxin-laden water. Portmán Bay (NW Mediterranean Sea), where an estimated amount of 60 Mt of mine tailings from sulphide ores were dumped from 1957 to 1990, is one of the most metal-polluted marine areas in Europe and worldwide. This bay can be used to assess the impact on marine ecosystems of particle settling from sediment plumes resulting from mine tailings resuspension. With this purpose in mind, we conducted a field experiment there to investigate subsequent effects of deposition of (artificially resuspended) contaminated sediments on (i) prokaryotic abundance and meiofaunal assemblages (in terms of abundance and diversity), (ii) the availability of trophic resources (in terms of organic matter biochemical composition), and (iii) a set of ecosystem functions including meiofaunal biomass, heterotrophic C production and C degradation rates. The results of this study show that mine tailings resuspension and plume deposition led to the decline of prokaryotic abundance and nematode's biodiversity. The later decreased because of species removal and transfer along with particle resuspension and plume deposition. Such changes were also associated to a decrease of the proteins content in the sediment organic matter, faster C degradation rates and higher prokaryotic C production. Overall, this study highlights that mine tailing resuspension and ensuing particle deposition can have deleterious effects on both prokaryotes and nematode diversity, alter biogeochemical cycles and accelerate C degradation rates. These results should be considered for the assessment of the potential effects of seabed mineral exploitation on marine ecosystems at large. [Display omitted] • Mine-tailings resuspension cause the decline of nematode biodiversity. • Particle-loaded plumes reduce the nutritional quality of the sedimentary organic matter. • Sediment resuspension stimulates C degradation rates and higher prokaryotic C production. • Mine tailings resuspension alters biogeochemical processes in marine ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Particulate biogenic barium (bio-Ba) fluxes obtained from three instrumented arrays moored in the Alboran Sea, the westernmost basin in the Mediterranean Sea, are presented in this study. The mooring lines were deployed over almost 1 year, from July 1997 to May 1998, and were equipped with sediment traps at ∼500–700 m depth, ∼1000–1200 m depth and 30 m above the seafloor (∼1000–2200 m). The results obtained support the growing body of evidence that the relationship between particulate bio-Ba and Corg throughout the water column in margin systems is clearly different from this relation in the open ocean. In the Alboran Sea, the annual averaged bio-Ba fluxes range from 0.39 to 1.07 μmol m−2 day−1, with mean concentrations of 1.31–1.69 μmol g−1 and bio-Ba/Corg ratios lower than in the open ocean. The low bio-Ba values obtained also indicate that calculating bio-Ba is extremely sensitive to the detrital Ba/Al ratio of each sample. The lithogenic Ba fraction in the Alboran Sea continental margin area contributes between 24% and 85% of the total Ba. Increased bio-Ba export efficiency was observed after periods of high primary productivity and suggests that the processes limiting the bio-Ba formation in the study area relate to settling dynamics of organic matter aggregates. Furthermore, the ballasting effect of the abundant lithogenic and carbonate particles may limit decomposition of organic matter aggregates and enhance the transfer of particles rich in Corg and relatively poor in bio-Ba to the deep seafloor. Lateral input of freshly sedimented biogenic material, including particulate bio-Ba, has been observed on the lower continental slope in the western Alboran Sea. These observations emphasize that the use of the bio-Ba as a proxy of export productivity from the surface ocean must be used cautiously in highly dynamic environments such as those in the Alboran Sea. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Here we investigate the sensitivity of deep-water formation in the north-western Mediterranean Sea to climate variability during the last 2500 yr. With this purpose, the grain-size parameter UP10 (fraction > 10 μm) is used as a proxy for intensity of deep-water circulation. Such a proxy is first validated through the analysis of oceanographic data collected from October 2012 to October 2014 by means of two deep-water mooring lines equipped with sediment traps and currentmeters in the Gulf of Lion and north of Minorca Island. Enhancements of deep current speed resulted from dense shelf water cascading and open-sea deep convection in February 2013 leading to dense-water formation. The grain-size distribution of settling particles from sediment traps collected during 2012–2013 shows a distinctive particle mode and high UP10 values correlated to deep-water formation. These data are consistent with grain-size values in sediment cores from the north of Minorca, thus supporting the validity of the UP10 parameter to reconstruct changes of intensity in deep-water formation and associated near-bottom currents. The deep-water sediment record of the north of Minorca for the last 2.5 kyr shows that the strongest deep-water formation events occurred during relatively warm intervals, such as the Roman Period (123 BCE-470 CE 2 2 BCE: Before Common Era years. CE: Common Era years.), the end of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (900–1275 CE) and the first part of the Little Ice Age (1275–1850 CE). By contrast, our data indicate a progressive reduction in the overturning conditions during the Early Middle Ages (470–900 CE) resulting in weaker deep-water formation events during most of the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Intense deep-water formation events appear to be mostly associated with periods of enhanced Evaporation-Precipitation balance rather than to buoyancy loss due to winter cooling only. Our results suggest that warm sea surface temperature during spring months could have played an important role by increasing the Evaporation–Precipitation balance and favouring buoyany loss by increased of salinity. The comparison our data with other oceanographic and climatic records indicates a change in the proxy relation before and after the Early Middle Ages. Western Mediterranean Deep Water and Levantine Intermediate Water behave in opposite way after the Early Middle Ages, thus indicating that the previously proposed Mediterranean see-saw pattern in the Evaporation-Precipitation balance also influenced convection patterns in the basins during the last 1500 yr. These changes are discussed in the frame of different configurations of the North Atlantic Oscillation and East Atlantic/ West Russian modes of atmospheric variation. • Deep-water formation in the north-western Mediterranean Sea during the last 2.5 kyr. • Grain-size parameter UP10 (fraction > 10 μm): proxy for deep-water circulation. • Validation of the UP10 parameter using present-day data. • Change in the trends before and after the Dark Middle Ages (470–900 year Common Era). • Deep-water formation trends in the Eastern and Western Mediterranean Basins [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We describe the quantitative and compositional (phytopigment, protein, carbohydrate and lipid) patterns of sedimentary organic matter along bathymetric gradients in seven submarine canyons and adjacent open slopes located at four European regions: one along the NE Atlantic and three along the Mediterranean continental margins. The investigated areas are distributed along a putative longitudinal gradient of decreasing primary production from the Portuguese (northeastern Atlantic Ocean), to the Catalan (western Mediterranean Sea), Southern Adriatic (central Mediterranean Sea) and Southern Cretan (eastern Mediterranean Sea) margins. Sediment concentrations of organic matter differed significantly between the Portuguese margin and the Mediterranean regions and also from one study area to the other within the Mediterranean Sea. Differences in quantity and composition of sediment organic matter between canyons and open slopes were limited and significant only in the eutrophic Portuguese margin, where the differences were as large as those observed between regions (i.e. at the mesoscale). These results suggest that the overall trophic status of deep margin sediments is controlled mostly by the primary productivity of the overlying waters rather than by the local topography. Moreover, we also report that the quantity and nutritional quality of sediment organic matter in canyons and adjacent open slopes do not show any consistent depth-related pattern. Only the Nazaré and Cascais canyons in the Portuguese margin, at depths deeper than 500m, displayed a significant accumulation of labile organic matter. The results of our study underline the need of further investigations of deep margins through sampling strategies accounting for adequate temporal and spatial scales of variability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The continental margin off SE Spain is sediment-starved and submarine canyons incised into it show low particle fluxes. • Off-shelf particle export following occasional river discharge is determined by storms and modulated by oceanographic conditions. • Canyon head incision and distance to the shoreline play a key role in particle trapping capability by submarine canyons. • Bottom trawling impacts particle fluxes in some of the investigated canyons (i.e. the Garrucha-Almanzora Canyon System). • Few terrestrial-sourced particles reach the deep basin off the Gulf of Vera. Investigating the transfer of particulate matter from the continental shelf to the deep basin is critical to understand the functioning of deep sea ecosystems. In this paper we present novel results on the temporal variability of particle fluxes to the deep in three physiographic domains of a 240 km long margin segment and nearby basin off Murcia and Almeria provinces in the SW Mediterranean Sea, which are submarine canyons forming a rather diverse set (namely Escombreras, Garrucha-Almanzora and Almeria), the adjacent open slope and the deep basin. This margin is located off one of the driest regions in Europe and, therefore, its study may help understanding how mainland aridity translates into the export of particles to deep margin environments. Five mooring lines equipped with currentmeters, turbidity-meters and sediment traps were deployed for one entire annual cycle, from March 2015 to March 2016. We combine oceanographic, hydrological and meteorological data with grain size and bulk elemental data (organic carbon, opal, CaCO 3 , lithogenic) from the collected sinking particles to understand what drives particle transfers in such an under-studied setting, and to quantify the resulting fluxes and assess their spatio-temporal variability. Weighted total mass fluxes in canyons range from 1.64 g m−2 d−1 in Almeria Canyon to 7.33 g m−2 d−1 in Garrucha-Almanzora Canyon system, which are rather low values compared to other submarine canyons in the Western Mediterranean Sea. This results from the absence of extreme wind-storm events during the investigated time period combined with the reduced sediment input to the inner shelf by river systems in the study area. Our results also show that wind-storms are the main trigger for off-shelf particle transport to the deep margin, both within submarine canyons and over the open slope. The most significant transfer period is associated to a set of north-eastern storms in early spring 2015, when the off-shelf transport likely was promoted by storm-induced downwelling. However, the prevailing oceanographic conditions restricts the advection of water down the canyon heads to a few hundred meters, thus promoting a bottom-detached transport of particles seaward. Overall physiography, canyon head incision into the continental shelf and the distance of the canyon head to the shoreline (e.g. very short in Garrucha Canyon) play a key role in particle trapping capability and, therefore, in easing downslope particle transport. Further, bottom trawling activities around the Garrucha-Almanzora Canyon system, feed a nepheloid layer at depths in excess of 400 m, subsequently enhancing particle fluxes throughout the study period. In contrast, maximum particle fluxes in the deep basin respond to seasonal phytoplankton blooms. Our study shows that particle export from the shallow inner margin to the deep outer margin in sediment-starved settings, even if limited, does occur as dominated by atmosphere and ocean driven short-lived events. However, that export does not reach too far as at several tens of kilometres from the shelf edge advective fluxes are replaced by vertical ones impelled by phytoplankton dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Portmán Bay is one of the most contaminated and chronically impacted coastal marine areas of the world. Here, from the 1957 to 1990, about 60 million tons of mine tailings from the processing of sulfide ores were dumped directly at the shoreline. The resulting deposit provides a unique opportunity to assess the impact of mine tailings on coastal marine ecosystems after ca 30 years since the discharge has ceased. We investigated meiofaunal abundance, biomass and biodiversity along a gradient of metal concentration that overlaps with a bathymetric gradient from 30 to 60 m depth. Despite the localized presence of extremely high concentration of metals, the bay was not a biological desert, but, nevertheless, was characterized by evident signs of impact on benthic diversity. Meiofaunal variables increased significantly with decreasing metal contamination, eventually reaching values comparable to other uncontaminated coastal sediments. Our results show that mine tailings influenced the spatial distribution of meiofaunal taxa and nematode species composition. In particular, we report here that the bay was characterized by the dominance of nematode opportunistic species tolerant to high metal concentration. The effects of mine tailing discharge on meiofaunal biodiversity and composition were still evident ca 30 years after the end of the mining activities. Overall, this study provides new insights on the potential impact of mine tailings disposal and metal contamination in coastal sediments, and, can also contribute to predict the potential long-term consequences of ever-expanding deep-sea mining industry on benthic environments. Unlabelled Image • The mine tailings off Portmán Bay are not a biological desert. • Meiofaunal diversity and composition are negatively related to metal content. • Higher food availability along with low metal concentration support a higher diversity. • The highly contaminated deposit is mostly characterized by opportunistic nematode species. • Investigating mining impacts is crucial to implement a sustainable deep-sea mining industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]