Will the Mediterranean Sea Be a Cul-de-Sac for Marine Gastropods Under Climate Change?

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Auteurs principaux: Giannini, Arianna, Mancino, Chiara, Maiorano, Luigi, Oliverio, Marco
Format: Artículo científico
Langue:en
Publié: Ecology and evolution 2026
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author Giannini, Arianna
Mancino, Chiara
Maiorano, Luigi
Oliverio, Marco
author_facet Giannini, Arianna
Mancino, Chiara
Maiorano, Luigi
Oliverio, Marco
Giannini, Arianna
Mancino, Chiara
Maiorano, Luigi
Oliverio, Marco
collection PubMed - marine biology
contents Will the Mediterranean Sea Be a Cul-de-Sac for Marine Gastropods Under Climate Change? Giannini, Arianna Mancino, Chiara Maiorano, Luigi Oliverio, Marco Marine ecosystems are undergoing rapid transformation under climate change, yet the responses of many marine invertebrates remain vastly understudied. In particular, for many benthic gastropods there is a striking imbalance between their traditional appreciation by shell collectors-and, consequently, their consistent representation in Natural History Collections-and the limited attention they receive in ecological and conservation studies. Focusing on the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the cowries , , and the frog-shell are emblematic examples of this knowledge gap, despite being frequently mentioned as species of conservation concern. Using long-term occurrence records spanning more than a century, we modelled past and present distributions of these species and explored their potential responses to future climate scenarios through a multi-temporal Species Distribution Modelling framework. Our results show that intermediate climatic conditions-both in time (2050-2060 vs. 2090-2100) and scenario intensity (moderate SSP2-4.5 versus high-emission SSP5-8.5)-may represent a critical transition phase, leading to habitat contractions without compensatory gains in newly emerging suitable areas. The Mediterranean Sea is expected to increasingly function as a cul-de-sac, with the dominant circulation patterns strongly limiting outward movements towards cooler regions for species relying on planktic larvae for dispersal. Furthermore, incorporating larval sensitivity to reduced pH suggests that large areas of the Atlantic Ocean may actually result unsuitable for larval persistence, substantially reducing the habitat effectively available for completion of the full life cycle; this highlights the need to account for connectivity, life-history constraints and juvenile-stage sensitivity when assessing climate-driven range shifts in shelled organisms with planktic larvae.
format Artículo científico
id pubmed_42282975
institution PubMed
language en
publishDate 2026
publisher Ecology and evolution
record_format pubmed
spellingShingle Will the Mediterranean Sea Be a Cul-de-Sac for Marine Gastropods Under Climate Change?
Giannini, Arianna
Mancino, Chiara
Maiorano, Luigi
Oliverio, Marco
Will the Mediterranean Sea Be a Cul-de-Sac for Marine Gastropods Under Climate Change? Giannini, Arianna Mancino, Chiara Maiorano, Luigi Oliverio, Marco Marine ecosystems are undergoing rapid transformation under climate change, yet the responses of many marine invertebrates remain vastly understudied. In particular, for many benthic gastropods there is a striking imbalance between their traditional appreciation by shell collectors-and, consequently, their consistent representation in Natural History Collections-and the limited attention they receive in ecological and conservation studies. Focusing on the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the cowries , , and the frog-shell are emblematic examples of this knowledge gap, despite being frequently mentioned as species of conservation concern. Using long-term occurrence records spanning more than a century, we modelled past and present distributions of these species and explored their potential responses to future climate scenarios through a multi-temporal Species Distribution Modelling framework. Our results show that intermediate climatic conditions-both in time (2050-2060 vs. 2090-2100) and scenario intensity (moderate SSP2-4.5 versus high-emission SSP5-8.5)-may represent a critical transition phase, leading to habitat contractions without compensatory gains in newly emerging suitable areas. The Mediterranean Sea is expected to increasingly function as a cul-de-sac, with the dominant circulation patterns strongly limiting outward movements towards cooler regions for species relying on planktic larvae for dispersal. Furthermore, incorporating larval sensitivity to reduced pH suggests that large areas of the Atlantic Ocean may actually result unsuitable for larval persistence, substantially reducing the habitat effectively available for completion of the full life cycle; this highlights the need to account for connectivity, life-history constraints and juvenile-stage sensitivity when assessing climate-driven range shifts in shelled organisms with planktic larvae.
title Will the Mediterranean Sea Be a Cul-de-Sac for Marine Gastropods Under Climate Change?
url https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42282975/