Inshore and offshore Lebanese seawater

Phytoplankton taxonomic surface area in water bodies; Zooplankton defecation rates in the water column; Zooplankton dry weight biomass per unit volume of the water column; Zooplankton ash-free dry weight biomass per unit volume of the water column; Zooplankton taxonomy-related abundance per unit volume of the water column; Zooplankton non taxonomy-related abundance per unit volume of the water column; Zooplankton biovolume; Phytoplankton generic abundance in water bodies; Microphytobenthos abundance; Zooplankton and zoobenthos development stage parameters; Phytoplankton taxonomic volume in water bodies; Zooplankton wet weight biomass; Zooplankton feeding

Oceanographic data were obtained from ship cruises from 1965 until 2003 in the neritic and oceanic Lebanese waters (Levantine Basin). They include plankton community diversity, hydrographic parameters, namely temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, water transparency, chlorophyll a, nitrates and phosphates. The purpose of this work was to elaborate plankton dataset in relation to the hydrological conditions of the area. Spatial and temporal qualitative and quantitative distributions of the species are strongly correlated to seasonal variations of hydrological parameters. During our long-term survey we noticed certain hydrological changes in the Levantine Basin, manifested by increasing trend of temperature, and salinity, and by development of the Lessepsian migration. To date 400 phytoplankton species and about 1000 zooplankton taxa of which dozens of exotic species of Indo-Pacific origin are introduced, in the area, These ecological changes are mainly due to the regulation of the Nile by the Aswan High Dam in reducing freshwater outflow in the Mediterranean, and to the deepening of the Suez Canal in accelerating the northward current and facilitating migration process. The global climatic change may also contribute to these hydrological changes that affect the biodiversity of the entire Levantine Basin.

National Center for Marines Sciences
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RL
Lebanon