Distribution of marine caves in the Mediterranean Sea.

<p>Different colours indicate the variation in cave number per planning unit, warmer colours illustrating planning units with higher number of caves. Information on the spatial distribution of marine caves was extracted from various sources which are provided as a supplementary material.</p

Distribution of opportunity cost for commercial fishing, non-commercial fishing and aquaculture across the Mediterranean Sea.

<p>Darker shades indicate areas with higher opportunity cost (in Euros).</p

Distribution of coralligenous formations in the Mediterranean Sea.

<p>Red cells indicate planning units with the presence of coralligenous formations. Information on the spatial distribution of coralligenous formations was extracted from various sources which are provided as a supplementary material.</p

Spatial overlap between the identified priority conservation areas and existing MPAs in each ecoregion.

<p>Different colours have been used to illustrate the percentage of planning units for the A. Alboran Sea, B. Algero-Provencal Basin, C. Tunisian Plateau, D. Levantine Sea, E. Tyrrhenian Sea, F. Adriatic Sea, G. Ionian Sea, and H. Aegean Sea, that a) did not contain an MPA but was identified as priority area (red), b) contained an MPA and was identified as priority area (orange), c) did not contain an MPA and was not identified as a priority area (green) and d) contained an MPA but was not identified as priority area (blue).</p

Distribution of <i>Posidonia oceanica</i> meadows in the Mediterranean Sea.

<p>Green cells indicate planning units with the presence of <i>P. oceanica</i>. Information on the spatial distribution of <i>P. oceanica</i> was extracted from various sources which are provided as a supplementary material.</p

Map of the study area divided into 8 ecoregions, <i>sensu</i> Notarbartolo di Sciara and Agardy (2010).

<p>The study area comprises the entire Mediterranean Sea, excluding areas deeper than 1000</p

Percentage of area cover and opportunity cost when planning at different spatial scales.

<p>Percentage area cover and percentage opportunity cost of planning units required in each ecoregion of the Mediterranean Sea for scenarios a and b (scenario a: selection of priority areas across the whole Mediterranean Sea, and b: selection of priority areas for each ecoregion separately).</p

Distribution of habitats across ecoregions of the Mediterranean Sea.

<p>We calculated (i) the number of planning units in each ecoregion (N); (ii) the number of planning units with presence of each habitat in each ecoregion (<i>P. oceanica</i>: Ns, coralligenous: Nc, marine caves: Nmc), (iii) the percentage of Ns, Nc, Nmc across the Mediterranean Sea (N %), (iv) the percentage of Ns, Nc, Nmc across each ecoregion (Nr %); (v) the number of caves in each ecoregion (Nc) and (vi) the percentage of marine caves of each ecoregion across the Mediterranean Sea (Nc %).</p