24.08.2013 Views

Climate Change and the European Water Dimension - Agri ...

Climate Change and the European Water Dimension - Agri ...

Climate Change and the European Water Dimension - Agri ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Figure IV.D.5: The Sacca di Goro lagoon during a bloom of Cladophora (upper panel)<br />

<strong>and</strong> during a dystrophic crises (lower panel) in which water takes on <strong>the</strong> typical white<br />

colour (in <strong>the</strong> background <strong>the</strong> water has a typical blue colour. On <strong>the</strong> left a mussel farm is<br />

affected by <strong>the</strong> white tide)<br />

The recent evolution of Mediterranean coastal lagoons has been sudden <strong>and</strong> drastic.<br />

The non-linear response of <strong>the</strong> natural ecosystems to stress is a known concept in<br />

ecology <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> coastal ecosystems including lagoons are not exceptions. For<br />

example, at low perturbation levels, seagrass communities are resistant, but when a<br />

certain threshold is exceeded, dramatic non-linear changes occur. Non-linear<br />

behaviour <strong>and</strong> unpredictability of coastal ecosystems is one of <strong>the</strong> major research<br />

110

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!