A study analysed and distributed the existing information on several impacts that are simultaneously affecting the Mediterranean Sea: from climate impacts like the rise of temperatures in the sea, to the fishing pressure on natural resources or changes in physical and chemical conditions. The result is a map of the places that are most affected by human activity such as the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea, the African coast and the Catalan sea, among others. According to the researchers, this...

The colonisation of new suitable habitats is crucial for species survival at evolutionary scale under changing environmental conditions. However, colonisation potential may be limited by philopatry that facilitates exploiting successful habitats across generations. This study examined the mechanisms of long distance dispersal of the philopatric loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) by analysing 40 sporadic nesting events in the western Mediterranean. The analysis of a fragment of the...

Deficiencies in basic ecological information on uncommon and endangered elasmobranch fishes impair the assessment of their ecological role in marine ecosystems. In this study, we examined the feeding ecology (diet composition and trophic level) and trophic relationships of several elasmobranchs species present in the western Mediterranean Sea.

Identifying the main factors affecting the spatial distribution of marine predators is essential in order to evaluate their distribution patterns, predict the potential impact of human activities on their populations and design accurate management actions. In this context, using deviance partitioning analyses, authors aimed to determine the degree to which environmental features, prey availability and human activities interact and influence spatial distribution of two marine mesopredator...

Understanding how marine predators interact is a scientific challenge. In marine ecosystems, segregation in feeding habits has been largely described as a common mechanism to allow the coexistence of several competing marine predators. However, little is known about the feeding ecology of most species of chondrichthyans.