Eastern Baltic cod ( Gadus morhua ) has experienced a dramatic decline in biomass, distribution, size and condition over recent decades, related to a combination of fishing pressure and environmental stressors. Reduced parental size and condition are known to impact reproductive success, affecting egg quality, fertilization and hatching success and larval survival. However, how these reproductive traits vary throughout the spa...

In the Mediterranean Sea, the fleshy red alga Phyllophora crispa forms dense mats of up to 15 cm thickness, mainly located on rocky substrates in water depths below 20 m. Because of the observed density of these mats and some first observations, we hypothesize that P. crispa is a yet undescribed ecosystem engineer that provides a multitude of ecological niches for associated organisms along small-scale environmental gradients....