Abstract
The French community working in marine biogeochemistry and biological ecosystems is currently structured to initiate the MERMeX project (Marine Ecosystems Response in the Mediterranean Experiment; http://MERMeX.com.univ-mrs.fr/). This project is part of the large program MISTRALS devoted to the understanding of the Mediterranean environment. MISTRALS is led by the “Institut National des Sciences de l‘Univers” (CNRS-INSU), and it includes several projects, such as HYMeX, related to the study of the hydrological cycle, and CHARMeX, related to the study of the atmospheric chemistry in the Mediterranean basin. MERMeX aims at deepening the current understanding of the Mediterranean marine ecosystems to better anticipate their upcoming evolution in the context of global and anthropogenic changes. It focuses on the response of ecosystems to modifications of physico-chemical forcing at various scales, both in time and space, linked to changing environmental conditions and increasing human pressure. Here, we present general features of the Mediterranean Sea ecosystem functioning as well as the key questions that need to be addressed concerning the Mediterranean Sea to predict the response of the Ecosystem to global change in the twenty-first century as well as ideas for implementation. Most of the information given here will be extended and fully described in the review paper published by the MERMeX group (2011).
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Acknowledgements
This research was funded by INSU/LEFE/Cyber and MISTRALS programs. The authors are grateful for encouragements provided by D. Lequeau, J.F. Stefan, P. Monfray, and E. Ruellan from INSU/CNRS. We are grateful to members of Hymex and Charmex programs for valuable discussions on hydrometeoroly and atmospheric chemistry in Mediterranean Sea.
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Sempéré, R., de Madron, X.D., Guieu, C. (2010). The MERMeX Program for the Mediterranean Sea. In: Ceccaldi, HJ., Dekeyser, I., Girault, M., Stora, G. (eds) Global Change: Mankind-Marine Environment Interactions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8630-3_70
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8630-3_70
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