Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons Review: Sites to Visit before Disappearance

Abstract

Coastal lagoons are an established priority habitat in the European environment because of the biological communities that inhabit them. Their origin is related to the transport of sediments from a nearby river or the movement of sands by the marine currents that produce the closure of a gulf. Therefore, they are recent geological formations, which also disappear quickly if environmental conditions change. The 37 coastal lagoons with a surface area greater than 10 km2 located in the Mediterranean basin have been identified. Fishing has been the traditional use of these lagoons, in addition to their use as a navigation harbor when they are open to the sea. Pollution, quality problems and their consequences are the most studied topics in recent publications. Sentinel-2 images taken in the summer of 2020 have been used to study water transparency, suspended matter and chlorophyll a concentration. The result was that only six of them are in good ecological condition, but most of them are eutrophic due to the impacts on their environment and the inflow of poor quality water. The cultural values of these lagoons must also be protected and preserved.

Measurement of Turbidity and Total Suspended Matter in the Albufera of Valencia Lagoon (Spain) Using Sentinel-2 Images

“…However, in our study, that model not only obtains a lower result (R 2 = 0.7189) but is surpassed by the R783 × R705/R490 model (R 2 = 0.7749), which was also evaluated in the Mar Menor, but with worse results (R 2 = 0.701). These differences are because the Mar Menor has a lower Chl-a and solids load than Albufera, as mentioned in the study by Soria et al [35]. Therefore, in the Mar Menor, the R705 band is more effective than R783, contrary to our case study, because of a greater influence of scattering in the NIR and the saturation of the visible bands due to the high load of suspended particles [32].…”

Assessing the effectiveness of potential best management practices for science-informed decision support at the watershed scale: The case of the Mar Menor coastal lagoon, Spain

“…Coastal lagoons are shallow water bodies generally separated from the open sea by a sandy bar, characterised by low water renewal ratios due to their limited water exchange with the sea and reduced freshwater inputs ( Soria et al, 2022 ). According to the Habitats Directive of the European Union ( EU, 1992 ), coastal lagoons are threatened sites declared as a priority for environmental protection, as they support ecosystems that are very vulnerable to hydrological alterations, water pollution and habitat loss ( Pérez-Ruzafa et al, 2005 ).…”

“…The coastal lagoon areas exemplify the conflict of interest between the development of human activities and the ecological requirements of aquatic ecosystems ( Flower and Thompson, 2009 ). Soria et al (2022) identified thirty-seven coastal lagoons with a surface area larger than 10 km 2 in the Mediterranean region, and concluded that most of them showed eutrophication problems due to the pollution of their inflows. To cope with this issue, the European Green Deal developed a list of goals and actions to preserve biodiversity, reverse the environmental degradation and protect ecosystems ( EC, 2019 ).…”

The ecology and fishery of the vendace (Coregonus albula) in the Baltic Sea

“…Because of the pronounced gradients of, and fluctuations in, physical and chemical conditions of brackish waters, they are considered to be naturally highly stressed ecosystems (Elliott & Quintino, 2007; Teichert et al, 2017). In addition, low average depths and close connectivity to the adjacent terrestrial ecosystems have made many brackish waters and their fish populations vulnerable to over‐fishing (Haimovici & Cardoso, 2017; Jackson et al, 2001; Ulman et al, 2020), climate change (Kashkooli et al, 2017; MacKenzie et al, 2007), eutrophication (Karadurmuş & Sari, 2022; Soria et al, 2022; Table 1), pollution (Barletta et al, 2019; Islam & Tanaka, 2004), and species invasions (Daskalov & Mamedov, 2007; Feyrer et al, 2003). These anthropogenic impacts have, in recent decades, resulted in significant declines of economically and ecologically important brackish water fish populations in, for instance, the Black Sea (Demirel et al, 2020; Oguz, 2017), Caspian Sea (Daskalov & Mamedov, 2007), Marmara Sea (Demirel et al, 2022), brackish lakes and lagoons (Haimovici & Cardoso, 2017; Mohanty et al, 2009), and certain major river estuaries (Shan et al, 2013; Zhou et al, 2019).…”