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Marine heatwaves drive recurrent mass mortalities in the Mediterranean Sea.

Joaquim GarrabouDaniel Gómez-GrasAlba MedranoCarlo CerranoMassimo PontiRobert W SchlegelNathaniel BensoussanEva TuricchiaMaria SiniVasilis GerovasileiouNuria TeixidoAlice MirasoleLaura TamburelloEmma CebrianGil RilovJean-Baptiste LedouxJamila Ben SouissiFaten KhamassiRaouia GhanemMouloud BenabdiSamir GrimesOscar OcañaHocein BazairiBernat HereuCristina LinaresDiego Kurt KerstingGraciel la RoviraJúlia OrtegaDavid CasalsMarta Pagès-EscolàNúria MargaritPol CapdevilaJana VerduraAlfonso RamosAndres IzquierdoCarmen BarberaEsther Rubio-PortilloIrene AntonPaula López-SendinoDavid DíazMaite Vázquez-LuisCarlos DuarteNúria MarbàEneko AspillagaFree EspinosaDaniele GrechIvan GualaErnesto AzzurroSimone FarinaMaria Cristina GambiGiovanni ChimientiMonica MontefalconeAnnalisa AzzolaTorcuato Pulido MantasSimonetta FraschettiGiulia CeccherelliSilvija KipsonTatjana Bakran-PetricioliDonat PetricioliCarlos JimenezStelios KatsanevakisInci Tuney KizilkayaZafer KizilkayaStephane SartorettoRouanet ElodieSandrine RuittonSteeve ComeauJean-Pierre GattusoJean-Georges Harmelin
Published in: Global change biology (2022)
Climate change is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves (MHWs) and mass mortality events (MMEs) of marine organisms are one of their main ecological impacts. Here, we show that during the 2015-2019 period, the Mediterranean Sea has experienced exceptional thermal conditions resulting in the onset of five consecutive years of widespread MMEs across the basin. These MMEs affected thousands of kilometers of coastline from the surface to 45 m, across a range of marine habitats and taxa (50 taxa across 8 phyla). Significant relationships were found between the incidence of MMEs and the heat exposure associated with MHWs observed both at the surface and across depths. Our findings reveal that the Mediterranean Sea is experiencing an acceleration of the ecological impacts of MHWs which poses an unprecedented threat to its ecosystems' health and functioning. Overall, we show that increasing the resolution of empirical observation is critical to enhancing our ability to more effectively understand and manage the consequences of climate change.
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