• DOI:10.1111/gcb.16301
• Corpus ID: 250622761

Marine heatwaves drive recurrent mass mortalities in the Mediterranean Sea

@article{Garrabou2022MarineHD,
  title={Marine heatwaves drive recurrent mass mortalities in the Mediterranean Sea},
  author={Joaquim Garrabou and Daniel G{\'o}mez-Gras and Alba Medrano and Carlo Cerrano and Massimo Ponti and Robert William Schlegel and Nathaniel Bensoussan and Eva Turicchia and Maria Sini and Vasilis Gerovasileiou and N{\'u}ria Teixid{\'o} and Alice Mirasole and Laura Tamburello and Emma Cebrian and Gil Rilov and J. B. Ledoux and Jamila Ben Souissi and Faten Khamassi and Raouia Ghanem and Mouloud Benabdi and Samir Grimes and Oscar Oca{\~n}a and Hocein Bazairi and Bernat Hereu and Cristina Linares and Diego Kurt Kersting and Graciel la Rovira and Julia Martin Ortega and David Casals and Marta Pag{\`e}s‐Escol{\`a} and N{\'u}ria Margarit and Pol Capdevila and Jana Verdura and Alfonso Ramos and Andr{\'e}s Izquierdo and Carmen Barber{\'a} and Esther Rubio-Portillo and Irene Anton and Paula L{\'o}pez-Sendino and David D{\'i}az and Maite V{\'a}zquez‐Luis and Carlos M. Duarte and N{\'u}ria Marb{\`a} and Eneko Aspillaga and Free Espinosa and Daniele Grech and Ivan Guala and Ernesto Azzurro and Simone Farina and Maria Cristina Gambi and Giovanni Chimienti and Monica Montefalcone and Annalisa Azzola and Torcuato Pulido Mantas and Simonetta Fraschetti and Giulia Ceccherelli and Silvija Kipson and Tatjana Bakran-Petricioli and Donat Petricioli and Carlos Jimenez and Stelios Katsanevakis and İnci T{\"u}ney Kızılkaya and Zafer Kizilkaya and Stephane Sartoretto and Rouanet Elodie and Sandrine Ruitton and Steeve Comeau and Jean‐Pierre Gattuso and J. G. Harmelin},
  journal={Global Change Biology},
  year={2022},
  volume={28},
  pages={5708 - 5725}
}

• J. Garrabou, D. Gómez-Gras, +66 authors J. Harmelin
• Published 18 July 2022
• Environmental Science
• Global Change Biology

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.