This book is the outcome of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "The Eastern Mediterranean as a laboratory basin for the assessment of contrasting ecosystems" that was held in Kiev, Ukraine, March 23-27, 1998. The scientific rationale of the workshop can be summarized as follows. The Eastern Mediterranean is the most nutrient impoverished and oligotrophic large water body known. There is a well-defined eastward trend in nutrient ratios over the entire Mediterranean that starts at the Gibraltar Straits and, through the western basin, proceeds to the Ionian and Levantine Seas. Supply of nutrients to the entire Mediterranean is limited by inputs from the North Atlantic and various river systems along the sea. The unique feature of the Mediterranean is the presence of an eastward longitudinal trend in available nitrate/phosphate ratios. This apparently induces a west-to-east variation in the structure of the pelagic food web and trophic interactions. In this context the Mediterranean, and in particular its Eastern basin, provides probably a unique platform to explore the hypotheses related to the suggested phosphate-limitation on production and to the shift between "microbial" and "classical" modes of operation of the photic food web. The major exception of the overall oligotrophic nature of the Eastern Mediterranean is the highly eutrophic system of the Northern Adriatic Sea. Here, during the last two decades the discharges of the northern rivers (especially of the Po), together with municipal sewage, have led to a very marked increase of nutrients and subsequent imponent eutrophication events.

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Preface. List of Contributors. The Eastern Mediterranean in the 80's and in the 90's: The Big Transition Emerged from the POEM-BC Observational Evidence; P. Malanotte-Rizzoli, et al. Oceanographic Data Holdings in the Ukrainian Marine Centers for the Mediterranean Sea; V.N. Eremeev, A.M. Suvorov. The Study of a Persistent Warm Core Eddy in Winter 1993 and the Water Mass Formation in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea; A.I. Kubryakov, N.B. Shapiro. Intraseasonal Large-Scale Anomalies of the Mediterranean Sea Surface Temperature; V.V. Efimos, et al. Ecological Physiognomy of the Eastern Mediterranean; M.R. d'Alcalà, M.G. Mazzocchi. Type Definition of Vertical Chlorphyll Distribution in Contrasting Zones of the Mediterranean Sea; O.A. Yunev, et al. Composition and Abundance of Zooplankton of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea; A.V. Kovalev, et al. Physiological Parameters and Problems of Energy Budget Estimation in Mediterranean and Black Sea Fishes; G.E. Shulman. The Features of Geostrophic Circulation and Currents in the Eastern Mediterranean between the Syrian Coast and Cyprus Island in Winter and Summer; V.G. Krivosheya, et al. Optical Studies by the MHI of the Eastern Mediterranean: Available Data and Some Results; V.I. Mankovski, et al. Plankton Communities in the Eastern Mediterranean Coastal Waters; M.V. Flint, et al. Composition of Bottom Communities and Quantitative Distribution of Macrozoobenthos in the Syrian Coastal Zone; N.V. Kucheruk, et al. Abundance and Biomass of Phytoplankton and Chlorophyll Concentration in Eastern Mediterranean in Late Summer Period; I.N. Sukhanova, et al. Modeling Plankton Production in the Eastern Mediterranean: Application of a 1-D Vertically-Resolved Physical-Biological Model to the Ionian and Rhodes Basins; E. Napolitano, et al. PlanktonCharacteristics in the Aegean, Ionian and NW Levantine Seas; I. Siokou-Frangou, et al. The Effect of Physical Processes on the Distribution of Nutrients and Oxygen in the NW Levantine Sea; E. Souvermezoglou, E. Krasakopoulou. Abundance and Elemental Composition of Particulate Matter in the Upper Layer of Northeastern Mediterranean; D. Ediger, et al. Comparative Analysis of Sedimentation Processes within the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean; A.Y. Mitropolsky, S.P. Olshtynski. Sensitivity to Global Change in Temperate Euro-Asian Seas (The Mediterranean, Black Sea and Caspian Sea): A Review; E. Özsoy. Some Aspects of the Water Exchange through the Dardanelles Strait; V.N. Eremeev. Bio-Optical Characteristics of the Aegean See Retrieved from Satellite Ocean Color Data; V.I. Burenkov, et al. A Mathematical Framework for Zooplankton Population Dynamics Modeling: Individual-Based Approach; Y.M. Plis, A.Y. Plis. Spatial and Seasonal Variability of Water and Biogeochemical Fluxes in the Adriatic Sea; M. Gacic, et al. Mediterranean Sea Trophic Characteristics Interpreted through Three-Dimensional Coupled Ecohydrodynamical Models; A. Crise, et al. South Adriatic Ecosystem: Interaction with the Mediterranean Sea; I. Marasović, et al. The Bioluminescence Field as an Indicator of the Spatial Structure and Physiological State of the Plankton Community at the Mediterranean Sea Basin; Yu.N. Tokarev, et al. Satellite Observations of Similar Circulation Features in Semi-Enclosed Basins of the Eastern Mediterranean with Respect to Marine Ecosystems Investigations; Y.P. Ilyin, et al. Flora and Bottom Vegetation on the Deep-Water Banks of the Mediterranean Sea; N.A. Milchakova, et al. Anthropogenic Eutrophication of Near-Shore Waters and Macroalgal Biodiversity in the Levantine Sea; O.V. Maximova,