Bas, M. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2025

Climate versus human impacts on the marine fauna of the Mediterranean Sea during the pre-industrial period

Historical baselines are essential for evaluating the cumulative impacts on modern marine ecosystems, particularly in regions such as the Mediterranean, where human activities have been intensive for millennia and climate change is accelerating. However, quantitative evidence of historical impacts remains fragmented. In this study, we investigate changes in the presence, abundance and body size of the Atlantic bluefin tuna, gilthead sea bream, banded-dye murex and turbinate monodont across the Mediterranean Sea from 130,000 years Before Present until the Industrial Revolution (1850 AD), using geological, archaeological, and historical records. Our results reveal significant temporal shifts in the abundance and body size of the banded-dye murex, Atlantic bluefin tuna and gilthead sea bream. Environmental factors, particularly seawater temperature, were the primary drivers of abundance and size in Atlantic bluefin tuna in the past. Human activities, especially exploitation, influenced the abundance of banded-dye murex and Atlantic bluefin tuna, as well as the body size of gilthead sea bream. These findings underscore the importance of integrating long-term ecological data to better understand the interplay between climate, human pressures and ecosystem dynamics.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Commercially Relevant Species in the Mediterranean Sea: A Perspective from Late Pleistocene to the Industrial Revolution

The Mediterranean Sea is the worlds second-largest biodiversity hotspot and has been impacted by several environmental changes and human activities since pre-historic times. We present the results of a systematic review of the published literature on the nature and extent of these impacts on the ancient-historic Mediterranean marine ecosystems. We aim to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge and identify research gaps about climate and human-activity impacts on commercially relevant species of marine mammals, fishes, and molluscs in the Mediterranean Sea over the last 130 thousand years until the Industrial Revolution (the year 1850). In most of the reviewed publications, species were used as indicators of past climatic conditions or human subsistence strategies. A research gap remains, however, in quantifying their effects on marine ecosystems. Based on our results, we identify data trends in time and space and by functional group. Data are available primarily from the Holocene rather than the Late Pleistocene, reflecting a heterogeneous availability of records. The Adriatic Sea is underrepresented among subregions, which may indicate variability of accessible data between subregions, rather than an actual lack of information. Marine mammals were less studied than fishes and molluscs in the three subregions. Despite the lack of standardised guidelines to conduct studies and subsequent variability in information, this work provides novel insights into the importance of studying the evolution of research focused on past environmental and anthropogenic impacts in the Mediterranean Sea. Research efforts need to be balanced to examine both economically and ecologically valuable species in the marine ecosystem. We also reinforce the need for uniform approaches to gather data in a usable format for posterior research.

ecology↗