Connectivity processes on fish populations and communities of Atlantic and Mediterranean ecosystems: linking ecological functions to management challenges

Marine populations and ecosystems face important threats worldwide such as overexploitation, climate change or anthropogenic destruction of habitats. Besides the growing national and international efforts, there is still a widespread consensus that management frameworks are not efficient enough to ensure the sustainability and conservation of marine ecosystems. Indeed, European stewardships are currently asking scientists to efficiently improve current management and assessment tools by incorporating the spatiotemporal pattern of key biological and ecological processes, including those associated to the ecological connectivity. This situation demands innovative solutions that incorporate distinct components of connectivity in marine ecosystems (oceanographic, demographic, in the habitat and the community) into advanced management tools.