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Mediterranean marine copepods: basin-scale trends of the calanoid Centropages typicus

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Abstract

The Mediterranean Sea is located in a crossroad of mid-latitude and subtropical climatic modes that enhance contrasting environmental conditions over both latitudinal and longitudinal ranges. Here, we show that the large-scale environmental forcing is reflected in the basin scale trends of the adult population of the calanoid copepod Centropages typicus. The species is distributed over the whole Mediterranean basin, and maximal abundances were found in the north-western basin associated to oceanic fronts, and in the Adriatic Sea associated to shallow and semi enclosed waters. The peak of main abundances of C. typicus correlates with the latitudinal temperature gradient and the highest seasonal abundances occurred in spring within the 14–18°C temperature window. Such thermal cline may define the latitudinal geographic region where C. typicus seasonally dominates the >200 μm-sized spring copepod community in the Mediterranean Sea. The approach used here is generally applicable to investigate the large-scale spatial patterns of other planktonic organisms and to identify favourable environmental windows for population development.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Claude Razouls, Fouzi Zerouali and Michel Boisson who shared insights and unpublished data. We are grateful to all the crews of the many boats who helped with the sampling at the different sites. SST data were provided by the NOAA-CIRES ESRL/PSD Climate Diagnostics branch, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their web site at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/. We thank Cathy Smith for maintaining Reanalysis climate data. CZSC data were provided by OCEAN project at http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov. We also thank Sami Souissi for helpful criticism in a former draft of the manuscript. The comments of two anonymous reviewers help to improve the manuscript. This work is a contribution to the priority program AQUASHIFT (The impact of climate variability on aquatic ecosystems, IFM-GEOMAR, Germany).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille-Lille1, CNRS, UMR LOG 8187, Wimereux Marine Station, 28 av. Foch, Wimereux, 62930, France

    J. C. Molinero

  2. FB3-Marine Ecology/Experimental Ecology, Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften, IFM-GEOMAR, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, Kiel, 24105, Germany

    J. C. Molinero

  3. Institute of Marine Biology, Dobrota b.b., P.O. Box 69, Kotor, 85330, Montenegro

    V. Vukanič

  4. University of Dubrovnik, Institute for Marine and Coastal Research, 20000, Dubrovnik, Croatia

    D. Lučić

  5. Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche (LOV), Station Zoologique-BP 28, Villefranche-sur-mer, 06234, France

    F. Ibanez & P. Nival

  6. Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS), The Laboratory Citadel Hill, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 2PB, UK

    P. Licandro

  7. Institut de Ciències del Mar, CMIMA, CSIC, Ps. Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, Barcelona, 08003, Catalonia, Spain

    A. Calbet

  8. Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, P.O. Box 712, Anavissos, 19013, Greece

    E. D. Christou & I. Siokou-Frangou

  9. Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, Hydrology and Planktology Research Group, 7021, Zarzouna, Bizerte, Tunisia

    N. Daly-Yahia

  10. Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Muelle de Poniente s/n 07015, Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain

    M. L. Fernandez de Puelles

  11. Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Napoli, Biological Oceanography Laboratory, Villa Comunale, Naples, 80121, Italy

    M. G. Mazzocchi

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  1. J. C. Molinero
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  2. V. Vukanič
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  3. D. Lučić
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  4. F. Ibanez
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  5. P. Nival
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  6. P. Licandro
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  7. A. Calbet
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  8. E. D. Christou
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  9. N. Daly-Yahia
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  10. M. L. Fernandez de Puelles
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  11. M. G. Mazzocchi
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  12. I. Siokou-Frangou
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Correspondence to J. C. Molinero.

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Molinero, J.C., Vukanič, V., Lučić, D. et al. Mediterranean marine copepods: basin-scale trends of the calanoid Centropages typicus . Hydrobiologia 617, 41–53 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9524-8

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