ArticlePloS one2013
Low connectivity between Mediterranean marine protected areas: a biophysical modeling approach for the dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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25 citing papers in PubMed, 145 citations in OpenAlex.
- Optimising Connectivity in Deep-Sea MPA Networks forEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Refugia, but Not for Everyone: Genetic Structure Differentiates Shallow and Mesophotic Populations of the Brooder Sponge Ircinia variabilis.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Integrating molecular methods and biophysical modeling to assess functional connectivity between marine protected areas.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2025Article
- Coastal oceanographic connectivity at the global scale: a dataset of pairwise probabilities and travel times derived from biophysical modeling.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Article
- Indicators to assess temporal variability in marine connectivity processes: A semi-theoretical approach.PloS one · 2024Article
- Oceanic currents maintain the genetic structure of non-marine coastal taxa in the western Mediterranean Sea.npj biodiversity · 2023Article
- Grouping groupers in the Mediterranean: Ecological baselines revealed by ancient proteins.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Larval Dispersal Modeling Reveals Low Connectivity among National Marine Protected Areas in the Yellow and East China Seas.Biology · 2023Article
- Seasonal temperatures in South Eleuthera, The Bahamas, have considerable impacts on the cardiorespiratory function and swimming performance of Nassau grouper (Conservation physiology · 2023Article
- Ciguatoxin Detection in Flesh and Liver of Relevant Fish Species from the Canary Islands.Toxins · 2022Article
- A fast-moving target: achieving marine conservation goals under shifting climate and policies.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2020Article
- Fishers and groupers (Epinephelus marginatus and E. morio) in the coast of Brazil: integrating information for conservation.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2019Article
- Population co-divergence in common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) and its dicyemid parasite in the Mediterranean Sea.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Geographic isolation and larval dispersal shape seascape genetic patterns differently according to spatial scale.Evolutionary applications · 2018Article
- Coral connectivity between equatorial eastern Pacific marine protected areas: A biophysical modeling approach.PloS one · 2018Article
- Temperate marine protected area provides recruitment subsidies to local fisheries.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2017Article
- Global mismatch between fishing dependency and larval supply from marine reserves.Nature communications · 2017Article
- On the calculation of betweenness centrality in marine connectivity studies using transfer probabilities.PloS one · 2017Article
- Sensitivity of marine protected area network connectivity to atmospheric variability.Royal Society open science · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are major tools to protect biodiversity and sustain fisheries. For species with a sedentary adult phase and a dispersive larval phase, the effectiveness of MPA networks for population persistence depends on connectivity through larval dispersal. However, connectivity patterns between MPAs remain largely unknown at large spatial scales. Here, we used a biophysical model to evaluate connectivity between MPAs in the Mediterranean Sea, a region of extremely rich biodiversity that is currently protected by a system of approximately a hundred MPAs. The model was parameterized according to the dispersal capacity of the dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus, an archetypal conservation-dependent species, with high economic importance and emblematic in the Mediterranean. Using various connectivity metrics and graph theory, we showed that Mediterranean MPAs are far from constituting a true, well-connected network. On average, each MPA was directly connected to four others and MPAs were clustered into several groups. Two MPAs (one in the Balearic Islands and one in Sardinia) emerged as crucial nodes for ensuring multi-generational connectivity. The high heterogeneity of MPA distribution, with low density in the South-Eastern Mediterranean, coupled with a mean dispersal distance of 120 km, leaves about 20% of the continental shelf without any larval supply. This low connectivity, here demonstrated for a major Mediterranean species, poses new challenges for the creation of a future Mediterranean network of well-connected MPAs providing recruitment to the whole continental shelf. This issue is even more critical given that the expected reduction of pelagic larval duration following sea temperature rise will likely decrease connectivity even more.
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