Primary production research in the Adriatic Sea

Abstract

Primary production in the Adriatic Sea has been investigated for many years, however, a comprehensive systematic review of the literature is lacking. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing a thorough overview of all conducted studies, emphasising the methodologies employed, and comparing representative values. The first section introduces the history of primary production measurements and gives insights into the Adriatic basin’s hydrography and its impact on primary producers and their rates of production. The second section provides an overview of productivity across the geographical regions of the Adriatic Sea. The Middle Adriatic Sea stands out as one of the rare locations in the world where in situ measurements of primary production have been systematically conducted since the 1960s and are ongoing. This data has only recently been synthesised and corrected for overestimates using a modelling approach. The final section is an overview of all primary production studies supported with comprehensive summarising tables. Most of the data concerns phytoplanktonprimary production estimated by 14C method. Annual primary production in the Northern and Middle Adriatic ranges between 87.4–260.0 g C m-2 y-1, and 70.0–177.4 g C m-2 y-1, respectively. Southern Adriatic Sea is the least investigated, and only daily estimates are available (236–374 mg C m-2 d-1). The purpose of this review is to highlight the significance of measuring primary production in the Adriatic Sea and the need for future research that will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the basin’s productivity.