| Abstract: | Results of the 20-year study, from 1968 to 1988, indicate a trend of increasing density of heterotrophic bacteria in the open middle Adriatic Sea. An identical trend has been observed for primary production resulting in an increase of oxygen saturation in the layer of maximum primary production. Transparency of seawater decreased during the investigated period.This suggests that fluctuations of hydrographic, chemical and biological parameters in the open middle Adriatic Sea are not only a result of the influence of natural factors but are influenced by coastal eutrophication as well. Eutrophication rapidly extended towards the open Adriatic Sea after the late 1970s. |
