Abstract
The Black Sea is considered to be a huge laboratory naturally hosting oxic, hypoxic and anoxic water masses permanently existing due to strong vertical stratification. While strong vertical stratification supports isopycnal distribution of various biogeochemical species, the wide range of redox conditions supports specific processes rendering the Black Sea a unique place to study the Earth System responses to climate changes and anthropogenic forcing. Since a large part of the basin (i.e. approx. deeper than 100 m) is anoxic, life forms in the Black Sea display limited diversity and almost all pelagic and benthic fauna and flora dwell in the shallower upper oxic water layers. The plants are represented by over 304 species of macrophyte seaweeds, most of them red seaweeds, to which are added the brown and green seaweeds. The phanerograms are represented by 5 species only. The animals are represented by the majority of invertebrates groups, with a total of 1750 species, and the vertebrates include fishes, birds and marine mammals, with total of 164 species. The mammals are represented by two species of dolphins, the seal and the harbor porpoise: common dolphin (Delphinus delphis ssp. ponticus), common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus ssp. ponticus), monk seal (Monachus monachus) and harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena ssp. relicta).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Băcescu M, Gomoiu MT, Bodeanu N, Petran A, Muller G, Manea V (1965) Studii asupra vieţii marine în zona litorală nisipoasă la nord de Constanţa. ecologie marină, Vol. I. Ed. Academiei Române, pp 7–138 (in Romanian)
Băcescu M, Muller GI, Gomoiu MT (1971) Cercetări de ecologie bentală în Marea Neagră. analiza cantitativă, calitativă si comparată a faunei bentale pontice. ecologie marină, vol III. Ed. Academiei Române, pp 7–357 (in Romanian)
Celan M (1989) La flore algologique de la Mer Noire. Cercetări Marine, vol 22. IRCM, Constanta, pp 5–106
Godeanu SP (ed) (1995) Determinatorul ilustrat al florei si faunei Romaniei – Mediul marin. Ed. Bucura Mond 1:1–383 (in Romanian)
Gomoiu MT, Skolka M (1996) Changements Recents Dans La Biodiversite De La Mer Noire Dus Aux Immigrants. Geo-Eco-Marina, RCGGM 1:34–47
Gomoiu MT, Alexandrov B, Shadrin N, Zaitsev Y (2002) The Black Sea—a recipient, donor and transit area for alien species. In: Leppakoski E, Gollash S, Olenin S (eds) Invasive aquatic species in europe: distributions, impacts and management. Ed. Kulver, pp 341–350
Muller GI (ed) (1995) Determinatorul ilustrat al florei si faunei României, vol I. Mediul Marin. Ed. Bucura Mond, Bucureşti, 383 P
Zaitsev Y, Mamaev V (1997) Biological diversity in the Black Sea: main changes and ensuing conservation problems. In: Proceedings of the third international conference on the mediterranean coastal environment, Medcoast 97, Qavra, Malta, 11–14 Nov 1997, pp. 171–187
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vespremeanu, E., Golumbeanu, M. (2018). Life in the Black Sea. In: The Black Sea. Springer Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70855-3_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70855-3_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70853-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70855-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)