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Plankton distribution and hydrography above the Albanian shelf and continental slope, May 2009 aspect. Challenge for future research

We summarize published results on phytoplankton distribution and hydrography in the wider area of the south-eastern Adriatic Sea (Otranto Strait, Southern Adriatic Pit), and present recent results from the May 2009 cruise along the profile crossing the hydrographic boundary between the coastal water influenced by Albanian rivers and the inflowing oligotrophic Eastern Adriatic Current (Ionian Surface Water and Levantine Intermediate Water). A distinct plankton distribution was observed on each side of the shelf break hydrographic boundary in May 2009, during gradual warming of the surface waters. The prochlorophytes accumulated along the nutricline above the shelf and continental slope. The phosphorus limited inshore waters were dominated by a small diatom Chaetoceros circinalis, dinoflagellates, cryptophytes, autotrophic picoplankton and heterotrophic nanoplankton. The offshore surface layer was characterized by bigger nanoplankton (coccolithophorids, green flagellates). Low nutrient concentrations influence relatively low productivity not only above the Albanian shelf, but also further to the north along the Montenegrine and Croatian coastal Adriatic Sea. The Albanian shelf and continental slope is the area where dramatic thermic fronts appear throughout the year, which merits to be investigated interdisciplinarily in the future

Phytoplankton; nutrients; shelf; Albania; Adriatic Sea

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