Applied Ecology of the Black Sea

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Present civilization faces a serious choice. Nuclear winter is not the only way to self-destruction. The other one is the uncontrolled and non-scientific usage of the planet's resource in the name of "progress." The rates and technologies of development of the energetic industry (especially the chemical industry), agriculture and transportation in the last fifteen years will bring bad air quality and drinking water in the next several decades. Global warming will wash away the lines of seasons. The Black Sea is a closed sea, a water gathering basin of East and Middle Europe, a Region with well-developed energy, industry, agriculture, and tourism. The volume of pollutants since 1970 has increased to such an extent that the impact on the Black Sea ecosystems began to be noticed considerably. Also there is the undercurrent from the Sea of Marmara through Bosporus and the rainfalls driven by the Atlantic cyclones and the northeasterly wind that contribute to the pollution. The ecological breakdowns in the northwest part of the sea, periodic blossoming of plankton, changes in quality and quantity of the fish catch, a decrease of water transparency, appearance of a new settler Mnemiopsis leidyi all qualitatively illustrate this fatal influence on Black Sea ecosystems. This book elucidates the ecology of the Black Sea and presents realistic recommendations for solution of these pressing problems.