engleski

The North Adriatic: Past and Present Natural Events and Anthropogenic Impact I: An overview

The Adriatic Sea is a long semi-enclosed basin of the Mediterranean whose northern end (North Adriatic) terminates in a relatively flat shelf with a mean depth of 50 m. This shallow shelf area, covering an area of about 29, 000 km2, starts to the north of an imaginary sea line from Pula (Croatia) in the east to Rimini (Italy) in the west. This area is bounded by the Apennines to the west, the Italian Alps to the north, and the Slovenian Alps, Croatian Čičarija and Učka mountains to the east. The geographic position, specific sea bottom topology, semi-enclosed circulation with reduced exchange with Mediterranean waters in the warm period of the year, large seasonal inflow of fresh water from the river Po (Italy) and intensive anthropogenic activity along the entire coast characterize this area resulting in ecological changes that are oftentimes unexpected and sometimes harmful on living marine organisms. In the present study numerous natural environmental events as well as anthropogenic influences on the North Adriatic ecosystem during the past 25 years are described.

North Adriatic; biodiversity; natural events; antropogenic impact; overview

nije evidentirano