engleski

Analysis of time series of planktonic communities in the Adriatic Sea: distinguishing between natural and man induced changes

Time series (>20years) of bacterioplankton, phytoplankton and zooplankton abundances and phytoplankton production in the Adriatic Sea were analysed. Multivariate methods were used to extract the main patterns of year-to-year changes in abundances (Principal Component Analysis), and to discriminate between years and sites (Multidimensional Scaling). Increasing long-term trends were established for planktonic abundances and phytoplankton production in both coastal and open sea, natural factors (water exchange betwee the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas, and temperature) were dominant in controlling year-to-year fluctuations of plankton. On the other hand, long-term fluctuations of plankton in the coastal area were chiefly controlled by man-induced factors.Thus, besides natural factors, the dominant pattern of planktonic fluctuation was correlated with the fluctuation of nutrients coming from the land as a result of human activities.

time series; bacterioplankton; phytoplankton; zooplankton; Adriatic Sea; fluctuatuions

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