Population dynamics of gelatinous organisms and their environmental connections Kienberger, Karen Prieto Gálvez, Laura Navarro Almendros, Gabriel Universidad de Granada. Programa de Doctorado en Dinámica de Flujos Biogeoquímicos y sus Aplicaciones Gelatinous organisms Population dynamics Environment Mediterranean Sea Gelatinous organisms are key members of the marine environment and have been around circa 540-520 million years. It is well known that blooms (sudden outbreak of one species which comes to dominate the plankton for a finite period) are natural phenomena, which occur seasonally in many marine ecosystems. However, swimming can be perceived as a “dangerous” activity in the presence of jellyfish blooms and this can negatively affect the tourist trade. The economic damage is evident and can be seriously detrimental when tourism is the main source of income, as is the case in many coastal economies in southern Spain. In recent decades, the proliferation of jellyfish in coastal waters appears to have increased in both frequency and intensity, producing negative ecological, social and economic impacts. In some regions, these blooms of gelatinous organisms have been connected to anthropogenic practices such as overfishing, pollution, eutrophication, translocation, climate change, and ocean acidification. Historically, due to a lack of interest in the ecological role of gelatinous organisms, there is a clear gap of knowledge about their taxonomy, life cycle, ecology and ecosystem services. 2019-10-21T07:29:48Z 2019-10-21T07:29:48Z 2019 2019-10-03 info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis Kienberger, Karen. Population dynamics of gelatinous organisms and their environmental connections. Granada: Universidad de Granada, 2019. [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/57441] 9788413063386 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/57441 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España Universidad de Granada