IT24 - Lagoons of Salento - Italy

The Salento lagoons site comprises two coastal brackish lagoons located in the South Apulia (SE Italy): Acquatina and Alimini. Acquatina is a semi-artificial and meso-oligotrophic basin with a surface area of 0.45 km2 and an average depth of 1.2 m. Since 1985 the basin has been managed by University of Salento and is the focus of several scientific studies. Alimini is a mesotrophic, relatively small (surface area=1.375 km2) and shallow (average depth=1.5 m) lagoon. In Acquatina, the seagrass Cymodocea nodosa covers more than 50% of the lagoon bottoms, while other seagrasses of the genus Ruppia and Zostera together with macroalgae of the genera Ulva, Ceranium, Chondria and Caulerpa are locally abundant. In Alimini lagoon, primary ...