Maria Montseny

University of Barcelona | UB

Corals and gorgonians play an important role as ecosystem engineers in many sublittoral communities worldwide. However, coral populations are being increasingly impacted by human activities. Active ecological restoration is a popular conservation tool nowadays, widely used to revert degradation in natural populations. Several studies have reported...

The Mediterranean Sea has historically been significantly impacted by several anthropogenic activities, with commercial fishing being of utmost importance. Trawling and other bottom-contact fishing methods have led to the depletion of stocks and alteration of the sea floor over time. These fishing practices have impacted habitat quality, biodiversi...

Cold-Water Corals play a paramount role in marine benthic ecosystems, increasing their complexity and providing spawning and nursery habitats to many species. However, due to their sessile lifestyle and ramified shape they are commonly entangled in nets and even by-caught during the practice of bottom-contact fishing, which includes impacts from bo...

Although Astrospartus mediterraneus (Risso, 1826) is an emblematic Mediterranean species, limited information is currently available, as it has not received much attention from the marine scientific community to date. In this context, an unusually high abundance of this basket star was observed in 2018 as part of the by-catch of local artisanal fis...

n this chapter, we will mainly focus on some of the most relevant low-light habitats among those found along the continental shelf and margins, including habitats which receive multiple human-induced disturbances, unique and scarcely known assemblages (e.g., brachiopod beds), as well as those for which we have relatively better ecological knowledge...

n this chapter, we will mainly focus on some of the most relevant low-light habitats among those found along the continental shelf and margins, including habitats which receive multiple human-induced disturbances, unique and scarcely known assemblages (e.g., brachiopod beds), as well as those for which we have relatively better ecological knowledge...

During the 20th and 21st centuries, the growing demand for marine resources by Mediterranean countries has led to a gradual increase in fishing pressure. As a result, both coastal and continental Mediterranean waters have suffered from the impacts of trawling and, to a lesser extent, of artisanal fishing with longlines, trammel nets and other minor...

Fishing is one of the human activities with the highest impact on seabeds. During the past hundred years it has gradually expanded to deeper waters, and almost all continental shelf and slopes worldwide have now been fished to some extent. In EU managed fishing grounds between 200 and 1000 m depth, it is estimated that bottom trawling has impacted...

Astrospartus mediterraneus (Risso, 1826) (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) is an emblematic Mediterranean species yet, it has few reports and hasn't received much attention from the marine scientific community to date. In the framework of a project to assess how to mitigate the impact of artisanal fishing on benthic communities at the Site of Community...

Cold-water coral (CWC) gardens, mainly composed of gorgonians, soft corals and black corals, support a highly diversified associated mobile fauna, representing a key benthic habitat on the Mediterranean continental shelf. These communities are vulnerable to bottom-contact fishing gears, including trawling and small-scale fishing. In the frame of a...

The negative effects from recurrent industrial fishing are widespread in the Mediterranean Sea waters, being the conservation status of the benthic ecosystems especially critical in the Catalan continental margin (NW Mediterranean Sea), which is identified as a hotspot of ecological importance due to the high concentration of endangered, threatened...

Cold-water gorgonians dwelling on the continental shelf are a common by-catch of bottom-contact fishing practices. Given the slow growth and limited recruitment of cold-water gorgonians, the impact of fishing activities may seriously compromise the conservation of the highly complex coral gardens communities. For this reason, the development of eff...

Cold-water coral (CWC) habitats dwell on continental shelves, slopes, seamounts, and ridge systems around the world’s oceans from 50 to 4000 m depth, providing heterogeneous habitats which support a myriad of associated fauna. These highly diverse ecosystems are threatened by human stressors such as fishing activities, gas and oil exploitation, and...

Cold-water coral (CWC) habitats dwell on continental shelves, slopes, canyons, seamounts, and ridge systems around the world’s oceans, from 50 m to depths up to 4000 m. CWC species provide heterogeneous habitats supporting a myriad of associated fauna and form highly diverse CWC reefs and CWC gardens. Main threats, currently impacting CWC ecosy...

Gorgonians dwelling on the Mediterranean continental shelf are among the most frequent fishing bycatch taxa. These species display several traits, such as long lifespans and slow growth, which make them very vulnerable to the impacts caused by fishing activities with far‐reaching and long‐lasting effects. Hence, restoration and mitigation actions a...

• In the Mediterranean Sea, gorgonians are among the main habitat‐forming species of benthic communities on the continental shelf and slope, playing an important ecological role in coral gardens. • In areas where bottom trawling is restricted, gorgonians represent one of the main components of trammel net bycatch. Since gorgonians are long‐lived an...

Exploration of the ocean is still one of the greatest challenges facing humankind. In the last decades our knowledge has increased considerably, thanks mainly to technological advances such as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and manned underwater vehicles, as well as new acoustic techniques that allow us to see the sea floor on a computer screen...

La exploración del océano sigue siendo uno de los grandes retos de la humanidad. En las últimas décadas se ha avanzado mucho en su conocimiento, gracias sobre todo a adelantos tecnológicos como los vehículos operados remotamente (ROV) o los submarinos tripulados, además de técnicas acústicas que permiten visualizar el relieve del fondo marino en la...

Treball de recerca realitzat per una alumna d'ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit científic del Jovent l'any 2009. La llum i el temps són factors importants en tots els ecosistemes i especialment en ecosistemes aquàtics, ja que constitueixen variables ambientals que condicionen la seva evolució i equilibri. L...