Unravelling echinoid mass mortalities: a global overview of mechanisms, spatio-temporal trends, and taxonomic insights.

ABSTRACT: Mass mortality events (MMEs) have been occurring since the dawn of time. However, in contrast to terrestrial events, most marine MMEs remain undetected, largely due to the inaccessibility of many marine environments. One of the most notorious and best-studied marine MMEs in modern times is that of the population collapse of the echinoid Diadema antillarum in the Caribbean Sea during the mid-1980s, which triggered a catastrophic phase shift in local benthic communities from which the region never fully recovered - illustrating the ecological significance of echinoids in maintaining marine habitat stability. In recent years echinoid MMEs have reached an unprecedented scale, affecting populations across multiple ocean basins, climatic regions, and taxonomic range. Most recently, pathogenic-dr

SUBMITTER: Schmidt LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12783433 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature