Joaquim Garrabou

Spanish National Research Council | CSIC · Institute of Marine Sciences

Mediterranean gorgonians are being threatened by the impact of recurrent extreme climatic events, such as marine heatwaves (MHWs). The white gorgonian Eunicella singularis was suggested to be the most resistant gorgonian species in the NW Mediterranean, mainly due to the presence of symbiotic algae. However, a sub-stantial shift in the conservation...

The effects of climate change are now more pervasive than ever. Marine ecosystems have been particularly impacted by climate change, with marine heatwaves (MHWs) being a strong driver of mass mortality events. Even in the most optimistic greenhouse gas emission scenarios, MHWs will continue to increase in frequency, intensity and duration. For this...

In the Mediterranean basin, MHWs receive growing attention due to the increase in their frequency, intensity, duration, and wide-ranging impacts. The years 2022 and 2023 were exceptional in that regard, quite possibly an indication of things to come in a not-distant future. This article reviews the latest data and thoroughly analyses the oceanograp...

Coastal areas conservation strategies often left deeper habitats, such as mesophotic ones, unprotected and exposed to anthropogenic activities. In this context, an approach for including the mesophotic zone inside protection plans is proposed, considering 27 Italian Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as a model. MPAs were classified considering their ba...

We collated hundreds of temperature time series from around the world’s oceans recorded at a frequency of 1 hour or less. Using these data, we tested for patterns in temperature variability across climate regions. Contrary to the climate variability hypothesis, which states that the temperature variability is highest in temperate regions and lowest...

Marine ecosystems are facing a dramatic loss of biodiversity worldwide, together with a widespread collapse of habitats and their functionality. In this context, Marine Citizen Science (MCS) can be a powerful tool to monitor these changes over time. The flowering of very well-structured international projects is strengthening the scientific credibi...

Reference genomes are key resources in biodiversity conservation. Yet, sequencing efforts are not evenly distributed in the tree of life questioning our true ability to enlighten conservation with genomic data. Good quality reference genomes remain scarce in octocorals while these species are highly relevant target for conservation. Here, we presen...

Global ocean warming and acidification are two of the major threats to many marine calcifying habitat-forming species, potentially affecting entire ecosystems. Consequently, the need for a better understanding and predicting the response of marine calcifiers has never been more pressing. Paradoxically, the individual and combined long-term effects...

Climate change is impacting ecosystems worldwide, and the Mediterranean Sea is no exception. Extreme climatic events, such as marine heat waves (MHWs), are increasing in frequency, extent and intensity during the last decades, which has been associated with an increase in mass mortality events for multiple species. Coralligenous assemblages, where...

Extreme climatic events (ECEs), such as marine heatwaves (MHWs), are a major threat to biodiversity. Understanding the variability in ecological responses to recurrent ECEs within species and underlying drivers arise as a key issue owing to their implications for conservation and restoration. Yet, our knowledge on such ecological responses is limit...

Ocean warming and acidification, decreases in dissolved oxygen concentrations, and changes in primary production are causing an unprecedented global redistribution of marine life. The identification of underlying ecological processes underpinning marine species turnover, particularly the prevalence of increases of warm-water species or declines of...

Marine habitat‐forming (MHF) species in the Mediterranean are among the most threatened coastal species by human activities. In recent decades, different stressors (e.g., warming‐induced marine heatwaves and algal blooms) have caused mass mortality events in these key species. Overall, a common method to assess their health status at the Mediterran...

Marine Citizen Science (MCS) has emerged as a promising tool to enhance conservation efforts. Although the quality of volunteer data has been questioned, the design of specific protocols, effective training programs, and data validation by experts have enabled us to overcome these quality concerns, thus ensuring data reliability. Here, we validated...

Paramuricea clavata is an ecosystem architect of the Mediterranean temperate reefs that is currently threatened by episodic mass mortality events related to global warming. The microbiome may play an active role in the thermal stress susceptibility of corals, potentially holding the answer as to why corals show differential sensitivity to heat stre...

The effects of climate change are now more pervasive than ever. Marine ecosystems have been particularly impacted by climate change, with Marine Heat Waves (MHWs) being a strong driver of mass mortality events. Even in the most optimistic greenhouse gas emission scenarios, MHWs will continue to increase in frequency, intensity, and duration. For th...

Climate change poses a significant threat to coastal areas, marked by the increasing intensity and frequency of marine heat waves observed in various ecosystems around the world. Over the last 25 years, a vast number of Mediterranean populations of the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata have been impacted by marine heatwaves. The last mass mortality...

Current efforts to halt the decline of biodiversity are based primarily on protecting species richness. This narrow focus overlooks key components of biological diversity, particularly the infra-species genetic diversity, which is critical to consider with respect to genetic adaptation in changing environments. While comparative population genetics...

Climate change is currently impacting and threatening the entire bio-sphere, especially coastal marine ecosystems (Harley et al., 2006). In particular, climate change has been identified as a major driver of loss in coastal marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning linked to the increase in the frequency and the intensity of marine heatwaves (M...

Anomalous warming of the upper ocean is increasingly being observed in the Mediterranean Sea. Extreme events, known as marine heatwaves (MHWs), can have a profound impact on marine ecosystems, and their correct detection and characterization are crucial to define future impact scenarios. Here, we analyze MHWs observed over the last 41 years (1982–2...

Ocean warming and acidification may compromise calcifying species. However, their combined and long-term effects in bryozoans remain poorly understood although many species provide ecosystem services and goods. Here we examine the long-term effects of increased ocean warming and its interaction with acidification on populations of an encrusting and...

Aim Intraspecific genetic diversity is one of the pillars of biodiversity, supporting the resilience and evolutionary potential of populations. Yet, our knowledge regarding the patterns of genetic diversity at macroecological scales, so‐called macrogenetic patterns, remains scarce, particularly in marine species. Marine habitat‐forming (MHF) specie...

Current efforts to halt the decline of biodiversity decline are based primarily on protecting species richness. This narrow focus overlooks key components of biological diversity, particularly the infra-species genetic diversity, which is critical to consider with respect to genetic adaptation in changing environments. While comparative population...

The accurate delimitation of species boundaries in nonbilaterian marine taxa is notoriously difficult, with consequences for many studies in ecology and evolution. Anthozoans are a diverse group of key structural organisms worldwide, but the lack of reliable morphological characters and informative genetic markers hampers our ability to understand...

Understanding the factors and processes that shape intra-specific sensitivity to heat stress is fundamental to better predicting the vulnerability of benthic species to climate change. Here, we investigate the response of a habitat-forming Mediterranean octocoral, the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) to thermal stress at multiple bio...

The world is struggling to limit greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the human footprint on nature. We therefore urgently need to think about how to achieve more with actions to address mounting challenges for human health and wellbeing from biodiversity loss, climate change effects, and unsustainable economic and social development. Nature-based S...

Paramuricea clavata is an azooxanthellate octocoral currently threatened by episodic mass mortality events related to global warming. The microbiome may play an active role in the thermal stress susceptibility of corals, potentially holding the answer as to why corals show differential sensitivity to heat-stress. The microbiome of P. clavata collec...

The Gray’s sea fan, Paramuricea grayi (Johnson, 1861), typically inhabits deep littoral and circalittoral habitats of the eastern temperate and tropical Atlantic Ocean. Along the Iberian Peninsula, where P. grayi is a dominant constituent of circalittoral coral gardens, two segregating lineages (yellow and purple morphotypes) were recently identifi...

The aim of this work was to assess the implementation status of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme (IMAP) with the emphasis on two Common Indicators (CIs) related to marine habitats: CI1-Habitat distributional range and CI2-Condition of the habitat's typical species and communities. Here we focus on coralligenous and other calcareou...

Ocean warming and acidification may compromise calcifying species. However, their combined and long-term effects in bryozoans remain poorly understood. Here we compare the proportion of cover, skeletal structure and the microbiome composition of Pentapora ottomuelleriana population from a volcanic CO2 vent and a population living at ambient pH with...

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...

The ClimateFish database collates abundance data of 15 fish species proposed as candidate indicators of climate change in the Mediterranean Sea. An initial group of eight Mediterranean indigenous species (Epinephelus marginatus, Thalassoma pavo, Sparisoma cretense, Coris julis, Sarpa salpa, Serranus scriba, Serranus cabrilla and Caranx crysos) with...

The accurate delimitation of species boundaries in non-bilaterian marine taxa is notoriously difficult, with consequences for many studies in ecology and evolution. Anthozoans are a diverse group of key structural organisms worldwide, but the lack of reliable morphological characters and informative genetic markers hampers our ability to understand...

Comunicación a cargo de Teresa Alcoverro, Emma Cebrián, Bernat Hereu, Joaquim Garrabou, Jordi Boada, y Fernando García (CEAB-CSIC) sobre el monitoreo de desiertos submarinos mediante drones y ciencia ciudadana. En el Mediterráneo ciertas especies de algas crecen dando lugar a verdaderos bosques marinos. Estos ecosistemas son refugio y alimento para...

Local, regional and global targets have been set to halt marine biodiversity loss. Europe has set its own policy targets to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of marine ecosystems by implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) across member states. We combined an extensive dataset across five Mediterranean ecoregions including...

Understanding the resilience of temperate reefs to climate change requires exploring the recovery capacity of their habitat-forming species from recurrent marine heatwaves (MHWs). Here, we show that, in a Mediterranean highly enforced marine protected area established more than 40 years ago, habitat-forming octocoral populations that were first aff...

Understanding the interactions between various stressors, and the resulting cumulative impacts they exert, is essential in order to predict the potential resilience of marine habitats to climate change. Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are a major calcifying component of marine habitats, from tropical to polar oceans, and play a central role as ecosy...

Genomic data allow an in-depth and renewed study of local adaptation. The red coral (Corallium rubrum, Cnidaria) is a highly genetically structured species and a promising model for the study of adaptive processes along an environmental gradient. Here, we used RAD-Sequencing in order to study the vertical genetic structure of this species and to se...

Canopy-forming macroalgae play a crucial role in coastal primary production and nutrient cycling, providing food, shelter, nurseries, and habitat for many vertebrate and invertebrate species. However, macroalgal forests are in decline in various places and natural recovery is almost impossible when populations become locally extinct. Hence, active...

Restoration is considered an effective strategy to accelerate the recovery of biological communities at local scale. However, the effects of restoration actions in the marine ecosystems are still unpredictable. We performed a global analysis of published literature to identify the factors increasing the probability of restoration success in coastal...

Global change is striking harder and faster in the Mediterranean Sea than elsewhere, where high levels of human pressure and proneness to climate change interact in modifying the structure and disrupting regulative mechanisms of marine ecosystems. Rocky reefs are particularly exposed to such environmental changes with ongoing trends of degradation...

Aim How historical and contemporary eco-evolutionary processes shape the patterns of genetic diversity and differentiation across species’ distribution range remains an open question with strong conservation implications. Focusing on the orange stony coral, Astroides calycularis, we (a) characterized the pattern of neutral genetic diversity across...

A marine hazard is a potentially damaging event, phenomenon or activity in the marine environment that may cause loss of human life, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation. In the last 30 years, natural and human-induced hazards have caused over 1.6 million victims and the economic losses average 300 thousand million dollars pe...

Talk at the Society for Ecological Restoration SER21 World Conference 21-24.06.2021

Supplementary Appendixes S1-S2 linked to the article: Gómez-Gras D, Linares C, Dornelas M, Madin JS, Brambilla V, Ledoux J-B, López-Sendino P, Bensoussan N, Garrabou J (2021) Climate change transforms the functional identity of Mediterranean coralligenous assemblages. Ecology Letters.

Supplementary Tables S1_S5 linked to the article: Gómez-Gras D, Linares C, Dornelas M, Madin JS, Brambilla V, Ledoux J-B, López-Sendino P, Bensoussan N, Garrabou J (2021) Climate change transforms the functional identity of Mediterranean coralligenous assemblages. Ecology Letters.

Supplementary Figures S1_S7 linked to the article: Gómez-Gras D, Linares C, Dornelas M, Madin JS, Brambilla V, Ledoux J-B, López-Sendino P, Bensoussan N, Garrabou J (2021) Climate change transforms the functional identity of Mediterranean coralligenous assemblages. Ecology Letters.

Climate change is one of the biggest emerging threats to marine biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea. In this chapter, we focus on the recurrent and large scale mass mortality events (MMEs) induced by marine heatwaves (MHWs), and their immediate and long-term impacts on structural octocorals from highly diverse coralligenous communities. By combin...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are one of the most efficient conservation tools to buffer marine biodiversity loss induced by human activities. Beside effective enforcement, an accurate understanding of the eco-evolutionary processes underlying the patterns of biodiversity is needed to reap the benefits of management policies. In this context, integ...

This dataset compiles data on geographic and depth distribution, demography, population and mortality, of different habitat-forming invertebrate species dwelling the Mediterranean coralligenous assemblages. This dataset gathers published scientific papers, as well as grey literature and technical reports. We used different search strategies in the...

Quantifying changes in functional community structure driven by disturbance is critical to anticipate potential shifts in ecosystem functioning. However, how marine heatwaves (MHWs) affect the functional structure of temperate coral‐dominated communities is poorly understood. Here, we used five long‐term (> 10 years) records of Mediterranean corall...

The white gorgonian, Eunicella singularis, is thriving in Mediterranean hard-bottom communities; however, data regarding its distribution and ecology remain absent and insufficient, particularly in the southern Mediterranean Sea.In this study, the population structure and disturbance levels of the most common gorgonian in Tunisia were assessed for...

Marine animal forests are benthic communities dominated by sessile suspension feeders (such as sponges, corals, and bivalves) able to generate three-dimensional (3D) frameworks with high structural complexity. The biodiversity and functioning of marine animal forests are strictly related to their 3D complexity. The present paper aims at providing n...

An overview of the state of nature in Catalonia (trends and main drivers). Full text available in: http://observatorinatura.cat/

The octocoral, Paramuricea clavata , is a habitat-forming anthozoan with a key ecological role in rocky benthic and biodiversity-rich communities in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic. Shallow populations of P. clavata in the North-Western Mediterranean are severely affected by warming-induced mass mortality events (MMEs). These MMEs have diffe...

stract: Observadores del Mar is a marine citizen science platform launched in 2012 devoted to enhancing the understanding of the conservation status of marine ecosystems. The platform hosts different projects reporting information on two main topics: i) biodiversity data focusing mainly on species distribution and abundance, and ii) the impacts...