Pressures, in the Mediterranean Sea: The
case of SESAME and PERSEUS projects
Vangelis Papathanassiou
Research Director HCMR, Greece
Outline
1.  Drivers, Threats and Pressures
2. 
(2006-2011)
1.  Objectives
2.  Main findings
3.  Data availability
3. 
(2012-2016)
1.  Objectives/Project Summary
2.  Consortium
3.  Challenges and Work to be done
4.  Conclusions/Suggestions and missing elements
Pressures
•  Natural pressures come mainly from climatic variability that
impacts the physical dynamics and hydrological structure
•  Anthropogenic pressures come from the fast population growth in
coastal areas and the increasing economic activities
•  Pressures need to be managed though shared policy and decision
making based on scientific knowledge
•  Implementation of policies at EU (i.e. CFP, WFD, MSFD etc.) or
Med level (e.g. ECAP) needs to be supported by new knowledge
and innovative technologies (e.g. for new monitoring systems)
•  N and P inputs, atmospheric and land-based sources (point and
diffuse) and nutrient concentrations and ratios have changed the
biogeochemical state of the sea in several areas and need to be
investigated further
Pressures, Hazards and Threats
harmful algal blooms
urban pollution
Industrial pollution
global warming
aquaculture
Maritime transport
coastal erosion
renewable energy
exploration of resources
over-fishing
alien species
agricultural pollution
tourism
Stresses in the Med are shown sooner than the world ocean
Number of alien species in the European Seas
In the Med:
64 8 19 mainly of sub-
28 59 9 196 tropical origin,
96 205 223 128 Exotic species,
62 947 Total 1412 are now wellestablished as
they are
favoured by
temperature
Sept. 2009 increase
Zenetos et al., (2009) Sea water temperature and alien species
The example of the Aegean Sea, with mean increase of
1.8 oC over 20 years (1985-2005)
3
3.5
3
Alien anom 85
Hellenic Waters Anom
r2=0.68, P= 0.0099 2.5
2.5
2
1.5
2
1
1.5
0.5
1
0
0.5
-0.5
0
-1
-0.5
-1.5
-1
-1.5
-2
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Raitsos et al., L & O, 2010
Sustainable use of non-living resources
•  Sustainable exploitation of non-living resources is very important
(unique hydrography of the Med, with warm deep waters, deep-water
mass formation…)
•  Hydrocarbons exploration in under way in the eastern Med. Should
avoid alteration of the ecosystems
•  Significant questions on the regional and global (worldwide)
importance of fluid vents and associated gas hydrate accumulations
are pending
•  Seabed mapping should be made (priority in DG MARE); identify
and study the seepage ecosystems (ecosystem research on mud
volcanoes)
Species Diversity
•  Mediterranean Sea is one of the richest of the European seas
with large variety of habitats
•  Spatial coexistence of two types of biota: cold-temperate in the
cold season (at least in the coldest parts of the basin) and
tropical in the warm season
•  Changes in the marine biodiversity have been documented
in many parts of the region and are attributed to natural
phenomena, global change and anthropogenic activities
•  Decrease in Posidonia oceanica meadows may not only impair
the ecosystem functioning, but have a consequence to the CO2
sequestration in the Mediterranean
Scientific Objectives
1.  Assess the changes or regime shifts in the SES ecosystems over
the last 50 years and assess the potential mechanisms that relate
these changes to changes in natural and anthropogenic forcings
2.  Assess the current status of the SES ecosystems through
analysis of existing and newly collected data as well as through
model simulations
3.  Predict changes in the SES ecosystem responses to likely
changes in climate and anthropogenic forcings during the next
five decades
4.  Assess and predict changes in the ability of the ecosystems to
provide goods and services (with potentially high societal
importance)
•  Goods: tourism and fisheries
•  Services: ecosystem stability through conservation of biodiversity,
and mitigation of climate change through carbon sequestration
New data sets.
Transects of expeditions
RO BG FR ES RU IT TU GR Ten vessels simultaneously conducted multinational
cruises March-April & August-September 2008
TR IS Current status
•  Impact of EMT (on the nutrient concentrations)
•  Increased nutrient inputs
•  Atmospheric inputs important to the budgets.
BS State:
recovering
after the 90’s
•  Dee
p
•  De ening of t
pl
he
•  Pre etion of nu Deep Ch
l Ma
valen
trient
xim
c
e
s
phyto
a
o
plank f smaller nd decrea um
size f
se in
ton w
becom
r
i
a
t
i
c
h
n
t
ions o conc
g imp
autot
•  Me
ro
o
f
sozoo
plank rtant in th phic prok
e
ton v
aryot
ariab East
es
ility
Marked seasonality
CS measurements indicate that there is significant natural capacity of the seafloor
of the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea to absorb and store atmospheric CO2
Posidonia oceanica Meadows
~1/3 of Posidonia oceanica
meadows have been lost in the
last 50 years. The density of P.
oceanica seems to be decreased
by about 50%
Counting the decrease of the
P. oceanica meadows, CO2
sequestration in the
Mediterranean seems to be
less by 1/3
Duarte et al., 2010
Basin scale models: Changing SST patterns
Spatial occurrences of the scleractinian coral Astroides Calycularis
The 14-15 °C
“divides”
Bianchi (2007)
20C
February
surface
temperature
(SXG)
Pleistocene
fossils
Zibrowius (1995)
A1B 21C
Recent findings
Grubelic et al (2004)
Predict Ecosystem Changes: Precipitation,
Nutrients and higher trophic levels
ü  In 2050, 1/4 of Mediterranean freshwater inputs is lost (from
1960)
ü  Nutrients variability may regionally decrease in the North but
strongly increase in South & East
ü  Progressive warming evolves with a northward shift of the
surface isotherm, paving the way for meridionalization
processes in the basin
ü  Introduction of non-indigenous species of tropical origin show a
wider basin-scale distribution
ü  Indigenous species with warm-water affinity expand their
habitat ranges northward, sometimes at the expenses of the
residential cold-water species
Vichi et al. 2009
SESAME’s databases historical, cruise and
time series data (physical, chemical and
biological)
SESAME DATABASE
No COUNTRY
DATASETS
GREECE
258
BELGIUM
24
BULGARIA
30
CROATIA
2
EYPT
3
FRANCE
24
ISRAEL
31
ITALY
98
MALTA
3
MOROCCO
1
ROMANIA
36
RUSSIA
35
SLOVENIA
7
SPAIN
21
TUNISIA
1
TURKEY
109
UKRAINE
24
All data will be publically available on April 2013
Stored in PANGAEA Database
Grant agreement no: 287600 Key Figures
http://www.perseus-net.eu/
Ø Project Duration: 48 months
Ø Start: 1st of January 2012
Ø 10 Work Packages
Ø Budget 12,973,124.40 €
Ø 2297 man/months
HCMR, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research PERSEUS Partnership
•  21 countries
•  53 partners
Ø 65 Institutes & Universities
•  2 Subcontractors
•  More than 300 scientists
Project Summary
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
Identify the interacting patterns of natural and human-derived
pressures, assess their impact on marine ecosystems and design
an effective and innovative research framework based on sound
scientific knowledge.
Design an innovative, small research vessel to serve as a
scientific survey tool in very shallow areas.
Use appropriate scenarios to explore interactions between
projected human-derived and natural pressures.
Develop a framework of scenario-based adaptive policies and
management schemes to help in reaching GES. Help the
selection and application of the appropriate descriptors and
indicators of the MSFD in the SES.
5. 
Define and rank a feasible and realistic adaptation policy
framework in order to design management schemes.
6. 
Promote the principles and objectives of MSFD across the SES.
Work Flow
Brief Overview
Well-coordinated scientific research and socioeconomic analysis will be applied at a wideranging scale, from basin to coastal
WP 1 & 2 working areas Areas for demonstration of the MSFD
principles & development of (APF)
=EU studies =non-­‐EU studies =Areas for development of APF Conclusions/Suggestions
•  Mediterranean is a very sensitive area, highly stressed
ecosystems and very high species diversity
•  Changes in biodiversity may affect the ecosystem functioning,
even in the case of invasions by a single species
•  Effects of anthropogenic impacts (e.g. eutrophication,
environmental stressors and pollutants) are evident on structural
and functional aspects of the Med ecosystems
•  The potential of microbial-molecular parameters should be
tested as classical taxonomy could benefit from molecular and
genetic techniques
Missing Elements & Problems
•  Scarcity of time series data and information …
•  Processes, pathways and fate of pollutants (especially micropollutants) are not well known
•  Problems of pollution in the coastal zone persist and are mainly
related to urban waste water
•  Changes in productivity (resulting from nutrient loads)
•  Seabed mapping is missing (priority in DG MARE)
•  Ecological indicators are needed to capture the complexities of
coastal systems which must be regularly monitored
•  Sources of pollution and anthropogenic pressures must be
identified (e.g. non-point sources) and the biological effects of
long-range pollutants must be ascertained
•  Monitoring capabilities have to be improved. MSFD in place
Thank you!