The Eastern Mediterranean as a Laboratory Basin for the Assessment of Contrasting Ecosystems

1. Some Aspects of the Water Exchange Through the Dardanelles Strait

   • V. N. Eremeev, N. M. Stashchuk, V. I. Vlasenko, V. A. Ivanov, O. Uslu

   Pages 301-312

2. Bio-Optical Characteristics of the Aegean Sea Retrieved from Satellite Ocean Color Data

   • V. I. Burenkov, O. V. Kopelevich, S. V. Sheberstov, S. V. Ershova, M. A. Evdoshenko

   Pages 313-326

3. A Mathematical Framework for Zooplankton Population Dynamics Modeling: Individual-Based Approach

   • Y. M. Plis, A. Y. Plis

   Pages 327-333

4. Spatial and Seasonal Variability of Water and Biogeochemical Fluxes in the Adriatic Sea

   • M. Gacic, G. Civitarese, L. Ursella

   Pages 335-357

5. Mediterranean Sea trophic characteristics interpreted through three-dimensional coupled ecohydrodynamical models

   • A. Crise, G. Crispi, C. Solidoro

   Pages 359-381

6. South Adriatic Ecosystem: Interaction with the Mediterranean Sea

   • I. Marasović, D Viličić, Ž Ninčević

   Pages 383-405

7. The Bioluminescence Field as an Indicator of the Spatial Structure and Physiological State of the Planktonic Community at the Mediterranean Sea Basin.

   • Tokarev Yu N., E. P. Bitukov, R. Williams, V. I. Vasilenko, S. A. Piontkovski, B. G. Sokolov

   Pages 407-416

8. Satellite Observations of Similar Circulation Features in Semi-Enclosed Basins of the Eastern Mediterranean with Respect to Marine Ecosystems Investigations

   • Y. P. Ilyin, E. M. Lemeshko, S. V. Stanichny, D. M. Soloviev

   Pages 417-422

9. Flora and Bottom Vegetation on the Deep-Water Banks of the Mediterranean Sea

   • N. A. Milchakova, I. K. Evstigneeva, I. N. Tankovskaya

   Pages 423-430

10. Anthropogenic Eutrophication of Near-Shore Waters and Macroalgal Biodiversity in the Levantine Sea

    • O. V. Maximova, N. V. Kucheruk

    Pages 431-435

11. Deep-Sea Calcareous Rhodophycophyta Communities in the Levantine Sea

    • O. V. Maximova, Saker Fayes

    Pages 437-440

12. Intermediate Water Formation in the Levantine Sea: The Response to Interannual Variability of Atmospheric Forcing

    • K. Nittis, A. Lascaratos

    Pages 441-446

13. Sea Surface Temperature Fields and Air-Sea Fluxes in The Rhodes Gyre During Liwex’95 Experiment

    • A. Lascaratos, K. Nittis, A. Theocharis

    Pages 447-452

14. Interannual Variability of the Circulation and Hydrography in the Eastern Mediterranean (1986-1995)

    • Alexander Theocharis, Harilaos Kontoyiannis

    Pages 453-464

15. Structures and Characteristics of Newly Formed Water Masses in the NW Levantine During 1986, 1992, 1995

    • Harilaos Kontoyiannis, Alexander Theocharis, Kostas Nittis

    Pages 465-473

16. Eutrophic Signals in the Chemistry of the Bottom Layer of the Northern Adriatic Sea

    • E. Souvermezoglou, E. Krasakopoulou

    Pages 475-481

17. Water Masses and Transports Between the Aegean and Levantine Basins During Liwex’ 95

    • B. Manca, A. Theocharis, S. Brenner, H. Kontoyiannis, E. Sansone

    Pages 483-494

18. Flow Patterns of the Main Water Masses Across Transversal Areas in the Southern Adriatic Sea: Seasonal Variability

    • Beniamino Manca, Alessandra Giorgetti

    Pages 495-506

19. Lithology and Geochemistry of the Sediments Along the Eastern Mediterranean Coast

    • A. G. Rozanov, K. M. Shimkus, S. Noureddin

    Pages 507-521

This book is the outcome of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "The Eastern Mediterranean as a laboratory basin for the assessment of contrasting ecosystems" that was held in Kiev, Ukraine, March 23-27, 1998. The scientific rationale of the workshop can be summarized as follows. The Eastern Mediterranean is the most nutrient impoverished and oligotrophic large water body known. There is a well-defined eastward trend in nutrient ratios over the entire Mediterranean that starts at the Gibraltar Straits and, through the western basin, proceeds to the Ionian and Levantine Seas. Supply of nutrients to the entire Mediterranean is limited by inputs from the North Atlantic and various river systems along the sea. The unique feature of the Mediterranean is the presence of an eastward longitudinal trend in available nitrate/phosphate ratios. This apparently induces a west-to-east variation in the structure of the pelagic food web and trophic interactions. In this context the Mediterranean, and in particular its Eastern basin, provides probably a unique platform to explore the hypotheses related to the suggested phosphate-limitation on production and to the shift between "microbial" and "classical" modes of operation of the photic food web. The major exception of the overall oligotrophic nature of the Eastern Mediterranean is the highly eutrophic system of the Northern Adriatic Sea. Here, during the last two decades the discharges of the northern rivers (especially of the Po), together with municipal sewage, have led to a very marked increase of nutrients and subsequent imponent eutrophication events.

• Biodiversity
• Coast
• Eutrophication
• Flora
• Ocean
• Oceanography
• Plankton
• Sediment
• Sedimentation
• ecosystem
• ecosystems
• environment
• marine
• phytoplankton

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA

  Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli

• Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Sevastopol, Ukraine

  Valery N. Eremeev

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