Geographical coordinates of sampled individuals of shortfin mako sharks.

<p>Geographical coordinates of sampled individuals of shortfin mako sharks.</p

Comparison between a vertebra of a specimen of <i>Scomberesox saurus</i>, (MNHN 5227, 341 mm TL) (A) and two vertebrae from a prey of shortfin mako (individual M1, caught at zone A) (B).

<p>Photo Sebastián Bitón.</p

Stomach content of shortfin mako (individual M1, caught at zone A).

<p>At least 13 individuals of <i>Scomberesox saurus</i> are present (a through e and h through o); f and g, though not counted, might actually represent 2 highly digested individuals (see text). Photo Sebastián Bitón.</p

Number of studied individuals of shortfin mako sharks (<i>Isurus oxyrinchus</i>), non-empty stomachs, stomachs with teleosts, percentage of occurrence of teleosts, number of teleost individuals and of <i>Scomberesox saurus</i> and number of headless teleost individuals.

<p>Number of studied individuals of shortfin mako sharks (<i>Isurus oxyrinchus</i>), non-empty stomachs, stomachs with teleosts, percentage of occurrence of teleosts, number of teleost individuals and of <i>Scomberesox saurus</i> and number of headless teleost individuals.</p

Distribution of the sampling areas (northeastern Atlantic).

<p>Zone A (southwestern of the Azores Archipelago), zone B (south of the Azores) and zone C (between the Azores and the Iberian Peninsula).</p

Robustness of the quality index (EBQI) with regard to the weighting of compartments (boxes).

<p>The 17 sites are arranged from left to right according to their growing EBQI (see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0098994#pone-0098994-t004" target="_blank">Table 4</a>) and ecological status (bad through high). Deep red = bad, orange = poor, green = moderate, light blue = good, deep blue = high. In order to test the effect of the weighting of the compartments (boxes) on the EBQI (robustness), weighting values have been randomly perturbed (above, ±1; below, ±2). 1000 iterations were performed. The change of the ecological status (bad through high) of a site, for a given iteration, is shown by the color of the new class within which it falls.</p

Robustness (index of similarity) of the quality index (EBQI) to the weighting of compartments (boxes).

<p>Percentage of times the ecological status of each site was unaltered by random perturbation of the weighting of the boxes (1,000 iterations) by ±1 through ±4. The similarity is equal to 100% when the class of the site is never changed after perturbation and 0% if it is always changed.</p

Conceptual model of the functioning of <i>Posidonia oceanica</i> seagrass ecosystem.

<p>For functional compartments and box numbers, see text. Primary producers are in green; filter-feeders, suspension-feeders, litter, detritus feeders, Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and microbial loops are in orange; predators (including herbivores) are in yellow. The width of the arrows roughly represents the importance of the carbon flow. The proper <i>P. oceanica</i> ecosystem is included within the red rectangle. MPO: Multicellular Photosynthetic Organisms. POM: Particulate Organic Matter. From C.F. Boudouresque, unpublished.</p

Spearman's rank correlations between the status of each compartment (boxes 1 through 13 and SRDI), the other compartments (boxes) and the EBQI (see Table 5).

<p>Bold italic characters: significant (p<0.01).</p

Sites used to test the proposed ecosystem-based approach to assess the status of the <i>P. oceanica</i> ecosystem. MPA: Marine Protected Area. NTZ: No Take Zone.

a<p>This area is close to the Natural Marine Reserve of Cerbère-Banyuls. Since October 2011, this area has been included within a natural marine park (‘Parc naturel marin du golfe du Lion’).</p>b<p>Since 2010, anchoring is banned.</p>c<p>Since May, 2012, this area has been included within a National Park (‘Parc national des Calanques’). However, it is unlikely that this new status would have already resulted in a perceptible effect.</p