Vulnerability of benthic trait diversity across the Mediterranean Sea following mass mortality events.

ABSTRACT: Unraveling the functional future of marine ecosystems amid global change poses a pressing challenge. This is particularly critical in the Mediterranean Sea, which is highly impacted by global and local drivers. Utilizing extensive mass mortality events (MMEs) datasets spanning from 1986 to 2020 across the Mediterranean Sea, we investigated the trait vulnerability of benthic species that suffered from MMEs induced by nine distinct mortality drivers. By analyzing changes in ten ecological traits across 389 benthic species-constituting an extensive compendium of Mediterranean ecological traits to date-we identified 228 functional entities (FEs), defined as groups of species sharing the same trait values. Our findings indicate that of these 55 FEs were impacted by MMEs, accentuating a heighten

SUBMITTER: Carlot J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11821827 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature