Main drivers of spatial change in the biomass of commercial species between summer and winter in the NW Mediterranean Sea

15 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.105227

There is a general lack of information related to the spatial structure and functioning of marine ecosystems considering seasonality. Here, we modeled the biomass distribution of eight commercial marine species in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea during winter and summer. We hypothesised that the seasonal differences of the water column and the spatial heterogeneity of oceanographic conditions in the study area could result in seasonal variations on the species biomass distributions. We employed a Bayesian hierarchical species distribution modelling approach (B-SDM) with data from two experimental trawl surveys to analyse which are the significant drivers in each season. Our results showed that bathymetry, temperature and fishing patterns are important variables explaining the species spatial biomass distributions. Furthermore, we found seasonal differentiation in the spatial distribution of biomass for all the studied species. Our results provide essential knowledge about the seasonal distributions of key species in the Mediterranean Sea, with important management implications

E.Ll.-Ll.- was supported by a FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU1704395) associated to the project PELWEB (RETOS-2017-CTM2017-88939-R: Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivity, I+D+I projects) Science and Innovation, Spanish Government. J.N. was funded by the Spanish National Program Ramón y Cajal (RYC-2015-17809)

With the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI)

Peer reviewed