Study region in the western Mediterranean Sea continental margin.

<p>The individual sampling sites (trawls) are presented in this map separated by sector to show the large scale of the depositions. Also included is a detailed 3D bathymetry display (copyright by Ifremer) of the canyon complexity in the north of sector 3 and a photo of freshly caught biomass. General bathymetry map data taken from the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) digital atlas.</p

Summary of environmental and hydroclimate variables affecting the jelly-carbon depositions.

<p>(A) Structural changes of the temperature and chlorophyll a (Chla) over the period of jelly-carbon transfer. Significant temporal changes occurred in environmental predictors, although they were more evident in temperature. Significant changes are reached when the predictors surpass the threshold limits (p<0.05). (B) Synthesis of environmental and biological changes with the identification of the timing of the change (along with the significance). The horizontal dashed lines represent average biomass values for the main periods before and after 2001 (significantly different, t-test, p<0.05). (C) Monthly hydroclimate first principal Component (PC1) individual values for the study period from 1994 to 2005. (D) Quartile analysis of the zscores of temperature, Chla and the normalized (per unit area) biomass from 1994 to 2005 separately for each sector and then for all sectors.</p