Climate change, biological invasions, and the shifting distribution of Mediterranean fishes: A large‐scale survey based on local ecological knowledge
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Climate change and biological invasions are rapidly reshuffling species distribution, restructuring the biological communities of many ecosystems worldwide. Tracking these transformations in the marine environment is crucial, but our understanding of climate change effects and invasive species dynamics is often hampered by the practical challenge of surveying large geographical areas. Here, we focus on the Mediterranean Sea, a hot spot for climate change and biological invasions to investigate recent spatiotemporal changes in fish abundances and distribution. To this end, we accessed the local ecological knowledge (LEK) of small‐scale and recreational fishers, reconstructing the dynamics of fish perceived as “new” or increasing in different fishing areas. Over 500 fishers across 95 locations and nine different countries were interviewed, and semiquantitative information on yearly changes in species abundance was collected. Overall, 75 species were mentioned by the respondents, mostly warm‐adapted species of both native and exotic origin. Respondents belonging to the same biogeographic sectors described coherent spatial and temporal patterns, and gradients along latitudinal and longitudinal axes were revealed. This information provides a more complete understanding of the shifting distribution of Mediterranean fishes and it also demonstrates that adequately structured LEK methodology might be applied successfully beyond the local scale, across national borders and jurisdictions. Acknowledging this potential through macroregional coordination could pave the way for future large‐scale aggregations of individual observations, increasing our potential for integrated monitoring and conservation planning at the regional or even global level. This might help local communities to better understand, manage, and adapt to the ongoing biotic transformations driven by climate change and biological invaders.
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The dramatic changes in eastern Mediterranean ecosystems are better explained by the combined effects of climate change and biological invasions than by climate change alone.
“Climate change has played a crucial role in the alteration of eastern Mediterranean ecosystems and the collapse of several species (Rilov 2016; Albano et al. 2021), but these dramatic changes are better explained as a result of the combined effects of climate change and biological invasions (Marras et al. 2015; Azzurro et al. 2019; Yeruham et al.”
From Bioinvasion impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human health in the Mediterranean Sea (2022) · cites this paper as Azzurro et al. 2019
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Bioinvasion impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human health in the Mediterranean Sea
Tsirintanis, K., Azzurro, E., Crocetta, F., Dimiza, M., Froglia, C., Gerovasileiou, V., Langeneck, J., Mancinelli, G., Rosso, A., Stern, N., et al. (2022) · Aquatic Invasions · doi:10.3391/ai.2022.17.3.01 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Azzurro, E., Sbragaglia, V., Cerri, J., Bariche, M., Bolognini, L., Ben Souissi, J., Busoni, G., Coco, S., Chryssanthi, A., Fanelli, E., Ghanem, R., Garrabou, J., Gianni, F., Grati, F., Kolitari, J., Letterio, G., Lipej, L., Mazzoldi, C., Milone, N., Pannacciulli, F., Pešić, A., Samuel‐Rhoads, Y., Saponari, L., Tomanic, J., Eda Topçu, N., Vargiu, G., & Moschella, P.
- Affiliations
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (IT)
- Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (IT)
- American University of Beirut (LB)
- National Research Council (IT)
- INAT Tunis Tunisia
- University of Pisa (IT)
- Università di Camerino (IT)
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Greece
- UNIVPM Ancona Italy
- Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie (TN)
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
- National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (IT)
- Agricultural University of Tirana (AL)
- University of Messina Messina Italy
- National Institute of Biology (SI)
- University of Padua (IT)
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (IT)
- National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (IT)
- Institute of Marine Biology Kotor Kotor Montenegro
- University of Cyprus (CY)
- University of Milano-Bicocca (IT)
- Istanbul University Istanbul Turkey
- Parco Nazionale dell'Asinara e Area Marina Protetta Isola dell'Asinara Asinara Italy
- The Mediterranean Science Commission (MC)
- Corresponding author
- Azzurro, Ernesto
- ORCID
- Venue
- Global Change Biology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-05-20
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 2779-2792
- ISSN
- 1354-1013 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2486
- OpenAlex
- W2945585146
- Cited by
- 179
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 5
- FWCI
- 10.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Global Change Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BOA (University of Milano-Bicocca) (submittedVersion)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion)
- MarXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- MarXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Padua Research Archive (University of Padova) (submittedVersion)
- Greater South Information System
- Funders
- European Regional Development Fund (MPA-Adapt 1MED15_3.2_M2_337)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Marine Ecology and Invasive Species
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Marine and fisheries research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Keywords
- climate change, biological invasions, Mediterranean fish, range shifts, local ecological knowledge, recreational fishers, small-scale fishers, introduced species, marine conservation planning, biotic homogenization
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Ecology, Fishes, Mediterranean Sea, Surveys and Questionnaires, Ecosystem, Climate Change
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