Seagrass beds are designated as essential fish habitat by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the regional fishery management councils due to their critical role as nurseries for nekton. Yet, they face significant threats globally and have suffered substantial declines in extent and habitat quality. Quantitative estimates of the degree to which seagrasses enhance nekton productivity can help inform c...

Seagrasses, oyster reefs, and salt marshes are critical coastal habitats that support high densities of juvenile fish and invertebrates. Yet which species are enhanced through these nursery habitats, and to what degree, remains largely unquantified. Densities of young-of-year fish and invertebrates in seagrasses, oyster reefs, and salt marsh edges as well as in paired adjacent unstructured habitats of the northern Gulf of Mexi...

This paper is the outcome of a workshop held in Rome in November 2011 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the POEM (Physical Oceanography of the Eastern Mediterranean) program. In the workshop discussions, a number of unresolved issues were identified for the physical and biogeochemical properties of the Mediterranean Sea as a whole, i.e., comprising the Western and Eastern sub-basins. Over the successive two years, the...