Marcos Llope

• PhD
• Researcher at Instituto Español de Oceanografia

Conserving and using the oceans, seas, and marine resources sustainably is a high-level management goal encouraged by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and endorsed by most national policies. Estuaries are complex Social-Ecological Systems (SES) impacted by pressures from multi-sectoral activities. In these cont...

FISHGLOB brings together experts in, and users of, fish monitoring data to support biodiversity research and conservation across oceans.

Most of the Gulf of Cadiz commercial species stocks, such as anchovy or shrimp, depend to a great extent on their connection with the nursery area located at the Guadalquivir estuary and neighbouring waters. Hence, the environmental conditions at this essential fish habitat ultimately have an effect on the Gulf of Cadiz fisheries. The Guadalquivir...

In complex marine socioecosystems, where multiple sectoral activities coexist, management can be especially complicated. This is the case of the coupled Guadalquivir estuary - Gulf of Cadiz (Ge-GoC) system. The Guadalquivir estuary (SW Spain) plays a central role in the whole Gulf of Cadiz since many fish species use these waters as a nursery area....

The Joint ICES/EUROMARINE Workshop on Common Conceptual Mapping Methodologies (WKCCMM) aimed to advance approaches to support inter- and transdisciplinary science via qualitative conceptual models to inform Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) throughout European seas and beyond. The workshop focused on developing a common understanding of conce...

Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) are particularly susceptible to bottom-fishing activity as they are easily disturbed and slow to recover. A data-driven approach was developed to provide management options for the protection of VMEs under the European Union “deep-sea access regulations.” A total of two options within two scenarios were developed...

Seafood is an essential source of protein globally. As its demand continues to rise, balancing food security and the health of marine ecosystems has become a pressing challenge. Ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) has been adopted by the European Union (EU) Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to meet this challenge by accounting for the multiple...

The impacts of fisheries on ocean resources are no longer considered in isolation but should account for broader ecosystem effects. However, ongoing ecosystem-wide changes added to the inherent dynamics of marine ecosystems, create challenges for fisheries and fisheries management by affecting our ability to ensure future fishing opportunities and...

Marine biota are redistributing at a rapid pace in response to climate change and shifting seascapes. While changes in fish populations and community structure threaten the sustainability of fisheries, our capacity to adapt by tracking and projecting marine species remains a challenge due to data discontinuities in biological observations, lack of...

Under regulation (EU) 2016/2336, the EU fleet will be banned from bottom fishing in all waters between 400 and 800m in depth, apart from within the existing fishing footprint. Within the fishing footprint, EU vessels will be prohibited from bottom fishing in any closed areas that might be introduced to protect VMEs. To meet these regulatory require...

Marine biota are redistributing at a rapid pace in response to climate change and shifting seascapes. While changes in fish populations and community structure threaten the sustainability of fisheries, our capacity to adapt by tracking and projecting marine species remains a challenge due to data discontinuities in biological observations, lack of...

This study provides the first comprehensive description of the Gulf of Cadiz (SW Spain) marine zooplankton community. To do this we compiled information from a number of surveys and monitoring programs carried out in the area over the last 14 years. Using this time-series of quarterly (3 times per year) resolution, we describe their general composi...

The ICES Working Group on Ecosystem Assessment of Western European Shelf Seas (WGEAWESS) recently completed its third three-year term from 2017 to 2019. This report describes the group’s progress on the following objectives: (1) to continue metadata compilation for all ecosystem components in order to carry out integrated ecosystem assessment (IEA)...

Essential fish habitats (EFHs) are all aquatic habitats and substrates fundamental for spawning, breeding, feeding and/or growing to maturity. Estuaries are a good example of this because they play an important role as nursery grounds for several marine species. Despite their importance for completing the life cycle of some fish stocks, little is k...

Recruitment of many marine organisms depends on transport and survival of eggs and larvae from spawning grounds to nursery areas. Estuaries and neighbouring coastal waters play an important role in the recruitment of some small pelagic fish (SPF) as nursery areas. Damming of estuaries results in major alterations of their natural hydrological regim...

The Gulf of Cadiz socio-ecosystem (SW Spain) is characterized by a focal ecosystem component – the estuary of the Guadalquivir River – that has an influence on the marine ecosystem – serves as a nursery area – and at the same time concentrates a great number of sectoral human activities. This nursery role particularly affects the anchovy fishery, w...

The Gulf of Cadiz socio-ecosystem is characterized by a focal ecosystem component-the estuary of the Guadalquivir River-that has an influence on the marine ecosystem-serves as a nursery area-and at the same time concentrates a great number of sectoral human activities. This nursery role particularly affects the anchovy fishery, which is the most ec...

Traditionally, integrated ecosystem assessment (IEA) has been developed regionally using different strategies and tools, leading to problems of comparability and integration and even different assessments of status (e.g. GES) across shared boundaries. WGEAWESS undertakes IEA throughout the western European shelf seas to support ecosystem-based mana...

The ICES Working Group on Ecosystem Assessment of Western European Shelf Seas (WGEAWESS) meeting was held in Lisbon (Portugal), on 24–28 April 2017. The meet-ing was attended by 8 participants from 4 countries and chaired by Steven Beggs, Northern Ireland (UK). This was the first year of the new 3-year Terms of Reference (ToR) for WGEAWESS. The mai...

The Gulf of Cadiz socio-ecosystem is characterized by a focal ecosystem component –the estuary of the Guadalquivir River– that has an influence on the marine ecosystem –serves as a nursery area– and at the same time concentrates a great number of sectoral human activities. This nursery role particularly affects the anchovy fishery, which is the mos...

Estuarine coastal areas play an important role in the recruitment of some small pelagic fish populations mainly when stable salinity-gradients are present. Damming of these ecosystems results in major alterations in this natural hydrological regime. Therefore, changes in the marine/freshwater balance can result in services loss, like the nursery ha...

Significance Whether environmental conditions, harvesting, or predation pressure primarily regulate an ecosystem is still a question of much debate in marine ecology. Using a wealth of historical records, we describe how climate and fishing interact in a complex marine ecosystem. Through an integrative evidence-based approach, we demonstrate that i...

This article considers the major events in recent history, current situation and prospects for developing an ecosystem-based style of management in the Gulf of Cadiz. This particular socio-ecosystem is characterised by a clear focal ecosystem component—the role of the estuary of the Guadalquivir River as a nursery area—that has an influence on the...

The Guadalquivir estuary (SW Spain) is a non-stratified estuary with a gradual change in salinity. It supports an important biodiversity and functions as a nursery area for many commercial species (e.g. anchovy) in the Gulf of Cadiz (GoC). The understanding of the interplay between the environmental forcing (bottom-up) and the trophic regulation is...

Natural drivers, acting at various spatio-temporal scales firstly determine the distribution and abundance of species. On top of this natural forcing we usually find anthropogenic effects. Disentangling the relative influence of these two sources of variability has always been a challenge in ecology, and particularly in fisheries science. The Guada...

In this study we analyze large-scale satellite-derived data using generalized additive models to characterize the global correlation patterns between environmental forcing and marine phytoplankton biomass. We found systematic differences in the relationships between key environmental drivers (temperature, light, and wind) and ocean chlorophyll in t...

This study presents seasonal variation in the zooplankton composition of the Gulf of Cádiz was studied between 2001 and 2012. Samples were collected three times per year, in the spring, summer and autumn at three stations situated along a transect perpendicular to the coast. The total zooplankton abundance during the summer was higher than in the s...

Overfishing of large predatory fish populations has resulted in lasting restructurings of entire marine food webs worldwide, with serious socioeconomic consequences. Fortunately, some degraded ecosystems show signs of recovery. A key challenge for ecosystem management is to anticipate the degree to which recovery is possible. By applying a statisti...

Overfishing of large predatory fish populations has resulted in lasting restructurings of entire marine food webs worldwide, with serious socioeconomic consequences. Fortunately, some degraded ecosystems show signs of recovery. A key challenge for ecosystem management is to anticipate the degree to which recovery is possible. By applying a statisti...

Providing regional integrated ecosystem assessments (IEA) is a key challenge identified in the ICES Strategic Plan (2014-2018). IEAs are seen as a fundamental link between advice and ecosystem science in achieving Ecosystem Based Management (EBM). While EBM is not a new concept, difficulties in achieving such an ambitious goal have been highlighted...

Following the steps of the ICES Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) groups, this poster presents an overview of the Gulf of Cadiz ecosystem and preliminary results carried out within the Working Group on Ecosystem Assessment of Western European Shelf Seas (WGEAWESS). First we describe the main features and drivers of this ecosystem and show their...

The concentration of the world’s population in coastal regions, in addition to the direct human use, is leading to an accelerated process of change and deterioration of the marine ecosystems worldwide. In the case of the Gulf of Cadiz (GoC), intense fishing throughout history has resulted in the overexploitation of its major commercial stocks. The...

We analyzed 13 yr of monthly time series (1998 to 2010) of satellite-derived chlorophyll, sea-surface temperature and zooplankton abundance (copepod taxa from continuous plankton recorder surveys) in order to better understand the ecological processes that regulate the seasonal phytoplankton dynamics in different regions of the North Atlantic Ocean...

Background / Purpose: Main environmental drivers of the seasonal life stage abundances of Pseudocalanus acuspes in combination with internal density effects were assessed to improve the understanding of its life cycle dynamics. For this, Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) were applied within a discrete stage-structured population modelling approa...

The North Sea cod (Gadus morhua, L.) stock has continuously declined over the past four decades linked with overfishing and climate change. Changes in stock structure due to overfishing have made the stock largely dependent on its recruitment success, which greatly relies on environmental conditions. Here we focus on the spatio-temporal variability...

Increasing pressure on animal populations through climate change and anthropogenic exploitation fuel the need for understanding complex life cycle dynamics of key ecosystem species and their responses to external factors. Here we provide a novel, integrative study on long-term population dynamics of Pseudocalanus acuspes, a key species in the Balti...

The European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus population of the North Sea has increased and spread in recent decades, probably in response to the relaxation of limiting factors in its life history. We use models and empirical data to explore the effects of temperature and food availability during the first growing season on the adult anchovy populati...

Understanding the effects of cross-system fluxes is fundamental in ecosystem ecology and biological conservation. Source-sink dynamics and spillover processes may link adjacent ecosystems by movement of organisms across system boundaries. However, effects of temporal variability in these cross-system fluxes on a whole marine ecosystem structure hav...

In this chapter, the temporal variability in nutrient concentrations (nitrate, silicate and phosphate)at different depths along the northwestern (Galicia) and northern (mar Cantábrico) Spanish mid-shelf (75-130 m isobath) was analyzed. To this aim, we have considered the time-series of monthly observations in Galicia (Vigo and A Coruña) and in the...

Traditionally, marine ecosystem structure was thought to be bottom‐up controlled. In recent years, a number of studies have highlighted the importance of top‐down regulation. Evidence is accumulating that the type of trophic forcing varies temporally and spatially, and an integrated view – considering the interplay of both types of control – is eme...

Long term variability in phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll-a) and primary production (carbon fixation) in relation to changes in climatic and oceanographic factors was analysed for shelf waters in the north and northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Changes related to stratification in the water column and upwelling intensity were specifically addres...

Background/Question/Methods European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) populations of the North Sea increased dramatically since the 1990s, while usually being present only further South like the Bay of Biscay or Mediterranean Sea. This poses the questions of what ecosystem effects this will engender and why this change occurred when it did. Tempe...

It is well known that human activities, such as harvesting, have had major direct effects on marine ecosystems. However, it is far less acknowledged that human activities in the surroundings might have important effects on marine systems. There is growing evidence suggesting that major reorganization (i.e., a regime shift) is a common feature in th...

Increased knowledge on the spatial distribution of marine resources is crucial for the implementation of a true ecosystem approach to management and the conservation of marine organisms. For exploited fish species characterized by aggregation behaviour during spawning time, the identification and tracking of spawning areas is essential for a correc...

In order to provide better fisheries management and conservation decisions, there is a need to discern the underlying relationship between the spawning stock and recruitment of marine fishes, a relationship which is influenced by the environmental conditions. Here, we demonstrate how the environmental conditions (temperature and the food availabili...

Plankton are the main food source in the majority of marine ecosystems and have a crucial role in climate change through primary production and the export of carbon to the deep ocean. Understanding how ocean biology and biogeochemical cycles contribute and respond to climate and other global change is a major challenge of high significance for the...

Payne, M. R., Hatfield, E. M. C., Dickey-Collas, M., Falkenhaug, T., Gallego, A., Gröger, J., Licandro, P., Llope, M., Munk, P., Röckmann, C., Schmidt, J. O., and Nash, R. D. M. 2009. Recruitment in a changing environment: the 2000s North Sea herring recruitment failure. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 272–277. Environmentally induced change...

We study the spatial and seasonal variability of phytoplankton biomass (as phytoplankton color) in relation to the environmental conditions in the North Sea using data from the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey. By using only environmental fields and location as predictor variables we developed a nonparametric model (generalized additive model) t...

The nature and periodicity of changes in the concentrations of inorganic nutrients, phytoplankton chlorophyll-biomass and primary production rates at annual time scales were investigated along the NW shelf of Spain. The time series analyzed included monthly in-situ measurements obtained at mid-shelf (80-100 m depth) stations at 4 locations along th...

The project “Studies on time series of oceanographic data” was established as a pilot project by the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (I.E.O.) in 1991. After more than a decade, the project has grown to encompass a network of 19 sampling stations in five different transects along the North and Northwest coast of Spain: Vigo, Coruña, Cudillero, Gij...

The southern Bay of Biscay is a very active region in terms of hydrography due to the interannual variations of its Central Waters, the recurrence of mesoscale features such as slope currents and upwellings, and the freshwater discharges from land. This highly dynamic physical environment influences to a great extent the biogeochemical cycles of nu...

The southern Bay of Biscay (NW Spain) shows a very active hydrography due to the different origins of its Central Waters, the local modifications exerted on them by continental effects and the recurrence of mesoscale processes such as slope currents, upwellings and eddies. In order to assess the role of the different sources of variability we condu...

Much interest has recently been devoted to reconstructing the dynamic structure of ecological systems on the basis of time-series data. Using 10 years of monthly data on phyto- and zooplankton abundance from the Bay of Biscay (coastal to shelf-break sites), we demonstrate that the interaction between these two plankton components is approximately l...

Changes phytoplankton variables were studied during spring 2003, after the Prestige shipwreck, in the N-NW Spanish coast using historical data available for the area. Some minor changes were occasionally observed, but they did not show any clear pattern and were related to natural variability of the ecosystem. The phytoplankton community structure...

1. Abstract One of the consequences of climate change is the world ocean warming. All the studies carried out in the Bay of Biscay agree that the region has warmed up during the last 20 years. Interestingly, some of them also report a cyclic component. But as these studies are mainly based on sea surface temperature they are insufficient to study t...