Colonies of the yellow gorgonian <i>Eunicella cavolini</i> exposed to different orientations and disturbances.

<p>a) in a large overhang; b) on open rock; c) under stress by fishing gear and mucilagenous algae, d) heavily overgrown during a mass mortality event. Photos a and b are courtesy of Thanos Dalianis and Panagiotis Papadelis, respectively.</p

Summary of PERMANOVA results for <i>Eunicella cavolini</i> colony height.

<p>Tests of significance were run based on Euclidean distances for square root transformed data.</p><p>*statistically significant differences (<i>p</i><0.05).</p><p>Summary of PERMANOVA results for <i>Eunicella cavolini</i> colony height.</p

Upper depth distribution limits for the investigated <i>Eunicella cavolini</i> populations along a longitudinal gradient.

<p>Upper depth distribution limits for the investigated <i>Eunicella cavolini</i> populations along a longitudinal gradient.</p

Map of the Mediterranean showing the investigated regions of the NW Mediterranean, CE Adriatic and N Aegean.

<p>Inset figures a—d present localities (in bold). Crosses mark the study sites of the yellow gorgonian <i>Eunicella cavolini</i>.</p

Mean density (colonies per m²) of <i>Eunicella cavolini</i> populations, tabulated by locality.

<p>Whisker span indicates standard deviation. Colors denote geographic regions.</p

Height frequency distribution of <i>Eunicella cavolini</i> populations per site, grouped by locality (in bold) and region (different colors).

<p>Italics indicate site name, numbers in parentheses denote sampling depth range, and (N) corresponds to the number of colonies used.</p

Summary of PERMANOVA results for <i>Eunicella cavolini</i> population density.

<p>Tests of significance were run based on Euclidean distances for square root transformed data.</p><p>*statistically significant differences (<i>p</i><0.05).</p><p>Summary of PERMANOVA results for <i>Eunicella cavolini</i> population density.</p

Non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) plot of <i>Eunicella cavolini</i> population structure per site.

<p>Different markers indicate different regions. Black dotted lines signify clusters formed at Euclidean distance equal to 4. The superimposed red lines denote the Euclidean distance coefficients used, after data normalization: mean height, max height, H% (proportion of height classes ≤20 cm and >30 cm), height skewness, height kurtosis, density, and upper depth distribution.</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

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