Towards understanding the influence of environmental conditions on demersal resources and ecosystems in the western Mediterranean: Motivations, aims and methods of the IDEADOS project

E. Massutí, M.P. Olivar, S. Monserrat, L. Rueda, P. Oliver, 2014. Towards understanding the influence of environmental conditions on demersal resources and ecosystems in the western Mediterranean: Motivations, aims and methods of the IDEADOS project. Journal of Marine Systems. Volume 138, October 2014, Pages 3–19.

Abstract: The multidisciplinary IDEADOS project funded by the Spanish Government was developed between 2009 and 2012 aiming to determine the relationships between environmental conditions and the nekto-benthic slope communities in two areas of the western Mediterranean, north and south of the Balearic Islands, with different geomorphologic and hydrodynamic characteristics. In this paper we describe the background and goals of this project, its study area and the sampling strategy applied, as well as the main conclusions reached in a final workshop. This volume is a compendium of the main contributions presented at this workshop, which have been peer-reviewed and can represent the state of the art of the complex interactions between the pelagic domain and the slope benthic communities, within the context of the hydrodynamics and oligotrophy of the Balearic Islands, and considering different temporal scales and organization levels.

Keywords: Hydrodynamics, Zooplankton, Mid-water nekton, Benthos, Species assemblages, Trophic coupling, Deep scattering layers, Demersal resources, Population dynamics, Catchability, Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean