![]() ![]() Marine habitat assessment using indicator species through Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) was investigated. In the Mediterranean region, molluscan indicator species combined with SDM have not been used for assessing marine ecological status. ![]() The use of benthic mollusks in Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) studies has focused mainly on the impact of climate change (Saupe et al., 2014), biodiversity (Darr et al., 2014), species of socioeconomic interest (Appelqvist et al., 2015 Russell et al., 2012 Vázquez-Luis et al., 2014) and impact of biological invasions (Jones et al., 2013 Raybaud et al., 2014) and less so on studies regarding the distribution of species with high ecological value (Gormley et al., 2013). The ecological role of molluscan fauna in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea has been highlighted by various authors (Arvanitidis et al., 2005 Dimitriadis and Koutsoubas, 2008 Koutsoubas et al., 2000 Zenetos, 1996), who have addressed their importance in ecosystem structure and biodiversity maintenance and also, underlined their capability to reflect the total macrofaunal community in terms of ecological status evaluation. We propose a new standpoint of using benthic species as biotic tools based on their ecological niche requirements. As hypothesised, the current ecological grouping that depicts the sensitivity of a benthic species to an environmental stressor is irrelevant when assessing the effects of climate change. In contrast, an overall expansion of the distributional potential was observed for the sensitive species Flexopecten hyalinus as newly suitable habitats are formed. Significant loss of habitat suitability was observed for the tolerant species Corbula gibba and Abra prismatica whereas the sensitive species Moerella donacina was least affected. The effects of climate change were more profound on species that are indicative of a specific suite of climatic conditions regarding temperature and salinity. In this work, the relevance of the ecological groups that macrofaunal molluscs are assigned according to their sensitivity or tolerance to environmental disturbance was examined under the scope of the RCP 8.5 severe emissions scenario. The potential effects of climate change on the distribution of benthic species commonly used in marine ecological quality assessment were investigated using a spatial modelling approach. ![]()
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