Past and present of Fucales from shallow and sheltered shores in Catalonia

Ecological traits, genetic diversity and regional distribution of the macroalga Treptacantha elegans along the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean Sea)

“…The increase in sea-surface temperature over the last decades 51,52 may have led to species responses in macroalgal assemblages such as the observed here 53 . While we know that T. elegans may withstand high summer temperatures as an adaptation to the shallow environment 23 , our results suggest that a shift in the depth-range distribution and a subsequent acclimation to the new environments may be a result of warming. www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Our results shed new light on the ability of a Cystoseira sensu lato species to persist or even widen their geographical distributions under global change scenarios.…”

“…The potential source of the first deeper T. elegans population observed in the exposed shores of the Medes Islands is unknown. However, it may have arrived from the original shallow population in Banyuls-sur-Mer (France), where this species was described for the first time 31 , or from other shallow littoral populations from the north of Catalonia where the species was more abundant in the past 23 .…”

“…This species typically inhabits shallow waters down to 2-3 m depth 31 , where forms extensive stands at the innermost rocky bottoms of coves and other shallow environments characterized by low to medium water movements 32 . Recent studies have reported a significant regression of T. elegans in shallow and sheltered environments from the N-W Mediterranean Sea 16,18,23 . However, in the past two decades, some populations of T. elegans (identification by M. Verlaque, personal communication) have expanded their distribution in the Medes Islands No-Take Zone (NTZ) and the nearby areas (North-Western Mediterranean Sea), where the species can be now found in wave-exposed habitats located between 5 and 15 m depth, with some sparse thalli at 20 m depth.…”

Differential effects of pollution on adult and recruits of a canopy-forming alga: implications for population viability under low pollutant levels

“…Currently we are witnessing a general decrease of fucoid forests in the Mediterranean Sea 26,[30][31][32][33][34]59 which seem not to be able to recover 35 unless some recovery management actions are implemented 65,114,115 . Thus, the future of Mediterranean fucoid forests must go hand in hand of a sustained decrease in all kind of pollutants in seawater (nutrients, heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants) and management actions oriented to facilitate the recovery of the populations.…”

Coexistence of the reef-building coral <em>Cladocora caespitosa</em> and the canopy-forming alga <em>Treptacantha ballesterosii:</em> Description of a new Mediterranean habitat

“…Most species of Mediterranean Fucales are undergoing a severe decline (e.g. Bianchi et al 2014, Thibaut et al 2015, Mariani et al 2019, although this is not always the case for all the species (Thibaut et al 2014, Blanfuné et al 2019 or all places (Sales and Ballesteros 2010, Thibaut et al 2016. Pollution is the main threat affecting the survival of Cystoseira s.l.…”