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EUROPE SEA DIVERSITY
• Europe is surrounded by four sea regions: the
Mediterranean, Black and Baltic Seas, and the North
Atlantic Ocean which also includes the North Sea. Europe
also conducts many maritime activities in the Arctic.
• Europe’s seas include the Baltic, Black, North-East Atlantic and
Mediterranean seas. The North-East Atlantic includes the North Sea,
but also the Arctic, Barents, Irish and Celtic Seas, the Bay of Biscay
and Iberian Coast.
•The Baltic Sea
• The Baltic is the youngest sea on our planet,
emerging from the retiring ice masses only
some 10,000-15,000 years ago.
• Governed by special hydrographical and
climatic conditions, the Baltic Sea is one of
the planet’s largest bodies of brackish water.
It is composed of salt water from the North
East Atlantic and fresh water from rivers and
streams draining from an area four times
larger than the Sea itself. This highly
sensitive and interdependent marine
ecosystem gives rise to unique flora and
fauna.
Species found in the Baltic Ecoregion
Coastal Plants
Baltic marsh orchid Dactylorhiza baltica
Salt marsh rush - Juncus gerardii
Purple milk vetch - Astragalus danicus
Mammals
Ringed seal - Phoca hispida
botnica
Common seal - Phoca vitulina
Grey seal Haliceoerus grypus
Otter - Lutra lutra
Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena
WILD SALMON
FISH
• Wild salmon - Salmo salar
• Cod - Gadus morhua
• Herring - Clupea harengus
and Clupea harengus
membras
• Hornfish- Belone belone
• Sprat - Sprattus sprattus
• Asp - Aspius aspius
SPRAT
BIRDS
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White-tailed sea eagle - Haliaeetus albicilla
Common eider - Somateria mollissima
Migrating goose
White stork - Ciconia ciconia
Black stork - Ciconia nigra
Caspian tern - Sterna caspia
Baltic Dunlin - Calidris alpina schinzii
Long-tailed duck - Clangula hyemalis
White-tailed sea eagle - Haliaeetus albicilla
Kingfisher - Alcedo atthis
Crane - Grus grus
.White-backed woodpecker - Dendrocopos
leucotos
.Osprey - Pandion haliaetus
.Great snipe - Gallinago media
.Ruff - Philomachus pugnax
.Corncrake - Crex crex
.Aquatic warbler - Acrocephalus paludicola
.Little tern - Sterna albifrons
.Black-tailed godwit - Limosa limosa
.Lesser black-backed gull - Larus fuscus
.Stellers eider - Polysticta stelleri
INVERTEBRATES
• Apollo butterfly - Parnasius apollo
• Freshwater pearl-mussel - Margaritifera margaritifera
• Blue mussel - Mytilus edulis
AMPHIBIANS
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Green toad - Bufu viridis
Crested newt - Triturus cristatus
Marsh frog - Rana ridibunda
Natterjack toad - Bufo calamita
Fire bellied toad - Bombina bombina
European tree frog - Hyla arborea
Spadefoot toad - Pelobates fuscus
Agile frog - Rana dalmatina
Edible frog - Rana esculenta
Pool frog - Rana lessonae
Common toad - Bufo bufo
Moor frog - Rana arvalis
Common frog -Rana temporaria
GREEN TOAD
Marine plants
• Eelgrass - Zostera marina
• Bladder wrack - Fucus vesiculosus
• Charophytes - Charophyta
• Thin leaved pondweed - Potamogeton sp
BLADDER WRACK
MEDITERRANEAN
SEA
• Mediterranean Sea, the world's largest inland sea surrounded by
Europe, Asia, and Africa.
• The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea situated between Europe to the north, Africa
to the south, and Asia to the east. It covers an area, including the Sea of Marmara but excluding
the Black Sea, of about 970,000 square miles. The Mediterranean Sea has significant endemism
and is biologically distinctive from the adjacent Atlantic Ocean.
• Its rocky reefs, seagrass meadows, and upwelling areas are particularly important habitats that
support enormous biodiversity. Seagrass meadows provide important habitat, especially as
breeding, feeding, and resting areas for numerous marine species, particularly fish, crustaceans,
and marine turtles.
• These meadows produce more than 80% of the annual fish yield in the Mediterranean. The
grasses also stabilise the seashore and maintain water quality, particularly through oxygen
production. The rocky reef ecosystems provide habitat for the endangered Mediterranean
monk seal (Monachus monachus) as well as several endemic fish and invertebrates. The
Ligurian Sea represents the most significant upwelling area in the Mediterranean.
The Mediterranean is home to several
endangered marine species
• the monk seal (Monachus monachus), of
which only an estimated 550-600 animals
remain.
• the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the
100-million year old loggerhead turtle
(Caretta caretta), which nest on
Mediterranean beaches.
• cetacean species, including the pilot whale,
the fin whale and the short-beaked common
dolphin.
THE MONK SEAL
BLACK SEA
• The Black Sea is a sea between Southeastern Europe and Western Asia. It is bounded by
Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, and drains through the Mediterranean into the Atlantic
Ocean, via the Aegean Sea and various straits. The Bosphorus Strait connects it to the Sea of
Marmara, and the Strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean Sea region of the
Mediterranean. These waters separate eastern Europe and western Asia. The Black Sea is also
connected to the Sea
• Back Sea is the world's largest land-locked and anoxic sea.
• More than 171 million people, in 21 countries, live in the region draining into the Black Sea.
• The Black Sea has a surface area of 461,000 square kilometers.
• The Black Sea has an average depth of 1,240 meters, but about 25 percent is less than 200
meters deep.
• The Black Sea is linked to the Mediterranean by the Dardanelles, which is very shallow and very
narrow.
• The surface water temperature varies seasonally and geographically between 0 degrees C and
25 degrees C, while the deep water (1000 meters) remains a constant 9 degrees C.
• The water below 150 meters in depth contains no oxygen and contains high concentrations of
hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
• There are 180 species of fish in the Black Sea.
• Twenty-one marine species have been fished to comercial extinction.
• Bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, the
Black Sea and its surrounding areas are marked by majestic scenery and a
rich cultural and natural heritage.
• This includes not just the sea itself, but the Danube River Delta, Caucasus
and Carpathian Mountains as well. The region's waters, coastlines,
flooplains and mountains are home to an incredibly diverse range of
wildlife and habitats.
• Bears, wolves and lynx inhabit the old growth forests. In the Black Sea, one
still finds bottlenose dolphins and about 180 species of fish, including tuna,
anchovy, herring, mackerel and the famous white sturgeon. Monk seals,
sadly, have become extinct here.
• The Black Sea is a friendly sea, for there are very few hazardous
marine animals
Moon jellyfish Aurelia aurita
Rhizostome jellyfish Rhizostoma
pulmo
BLACK SEA
SCORPİON FİSH
Regional sea characteristics
• The Baltic Sea is semi-enclosed with low salinity due to restricted water exchange with the North-East Atlantic and large river run-off.
These conditions make the sea particularly vulnerable to nutrient pollution.
• The Black Sea is also semi-enclosed; it is the world’s largest inland basin with restricted water exchange with the Mediterranean. Its
waters are anoxic at depths below 150 metres to 200 metres. Surface water salinities of the Black Sea are within an intermediate range.
Most of the Black Sea is believed to host oil and gas reserves, and oil and gas exploration is under way.
• The Mediterranean Sea is also a semi-enclosed sea with high salinity due to high evaporation rates and low river run-off. It has
restricted water exchange with the Atlantic and Black seas. It is the most biologically diverse sea in Europe.
• The North-East Atlantic covers a range of seas and a large climatic gradient. It is a highly productive area that hosts the most valuable
fishing areas of Europe and many unique habitats and ecosystems. It is also home to Europe’s largest oil and gas reserves.
• The coast is the area defined by the coming together of the land and the sea. In the 24 EEA coastal countries, there are 560.000 km2 of
coastal zones, corresponding to 13% of the total land mass of these countries based on Corine Land Cover data from 2000.
• The deep sea and sea floor forms an extensive and complex system which is linked to the rest of the planet in exchanges of matter,
energy and biodiversity. The functioning of deep-sea ecosystems is crucial to global biogeochemical cycles upon which much terrestrial
life, and human civilisation, depend. It is found both in European and international waters of the Atlantic and in the Arctic Ocean. The
deep sea is usually considered to be that found at depths greater than 400 metres.