Role of environmental variables in structuring demersal assemblages on trawled bottoms on the Maltese continental shelf

Abstract

Demersal assemblages from trawl surveys made at depths of 45-800m in trawled areas within the 25NM Fisheries Management Zone round the Maltese Islands were related to environmental characteristics on the seabed. Depth, temperature, and mean grain size all affected the structure of the demersal assemblages but depth and temperature gradient were overall the most important in that order; while mean grain size seemed more important for relatively shallow bottoms (<80m) than for deep ones.