T-MEDNET: MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE CHANGE OBSERVATION NETWORK

T-MEDNet is a long-term internationl collaborative initiative devoted to the building of a pan-Mediterranean observation network on climate change effects in marine coastal ecosystems (www.t-mednet.org). T-MEDNet has been fostering international cooperation between marine scientists and Marine Protected Areas managers (MPAs). Over the past two decades it has supported the implementation of cost-effective monitoring protocols on seawater temperature conditions in coastal areas as well as on biological indicators on the onset of mass mortalities and shifts in native and exotic fish species distribution. To date, the network gathers managers from more than 25 Marine Protected Areas and more than 80 researchers from 11 countries. Seawater temperature time-series are being conducted in more than 70 sites covering all Mediterranean Ecoregions. In T-MEDNet, seawater temperature is being sampled continuously at high frequency (every hour) using data loggers deployed by divers at standard depth levels, every 5 m from the surface down to 40 m depth or more. Observations, back to 1997 for the oldest, are managed a centralized way and continuously updated, resulting in a harmonized and quality-checked database of over 20 million in situ T° samples. Enlighten coastal thermal regimes, these data have proved key for a range of studies in the highly dynamic coastal zone, including trends analysis at climatic time scales (e.g. warming and marine heatwaves). Regarding the mass mortality events, T-MEDNet provides the most updated comprehensive inventory of mass mortality events in the Mediterranean with about 2000 records encompassing more than 90 species from 9 different phyllums. Finally, T-MEDNet host the results of the monitoring efforts to track shifts in the distribution of fishes encompassing more than 3000 transects including the information on the abundance of 15 indicator species. Overall, the information provided by T-MEDNet contribute support to adaptive management strategies from local to regional scale face to climate change.