Deviance explained by different environmental descriptors in the generalised additive recruitment models with one, two or more covariates.

The main descriptor selected at each step is indicated in bold (see methods for details). Uncertainty was computed using a cross-validation method coupled with bootstrap (see methods for details). ‘NS’ = Gain in explained deviance <3%; ‘/’ = Not tested because Not significant (NS) or already kept in a previous step. *Form of model tested: gam(cod recruitment index ∼ Polygon+s(Var1, kmax = 2)+…+te(Var1, by = Polygon, kmax = 2)+…).