Comparative ecological analysis of Mediterranean deep-sea ecosystems and simulations of global change

Abstract

Deep-sea ecosystems need allochthonous energy for their functioning. Continuous sinking streams of particles and occasional, still unpredictable, point-like pulses of organic matter are the processes performing the required energy input. Productivity of the benthos is related with food availability or, more specifically, to marine snow input. Thus, as ocean waters have undergone a constant warming over the past century, the levels of primary productivity (and, by consequence, the marine snow input) have been observed to fluctuate with different patterns across the oceans