The Ecological Implications of Climate Change on the Lagoon of Venice

In spring 2011, under the auspices and organization of the UNESCO Venice's office, the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Italian National Research Council (CNR-ISMAR), brought together in Venice an international group of experts on lagoons and estuaries to discuss the major ecological implications of Climate Changes on the La-goon of Venice for the end of this century. Climate change (CC) has global ecological effects that are common to all lagoons, from the nearby Mediterranean lagoon of Marano-Grado to Jamaica Bay (Kjerfve, 1994; Valiela 2005; Aliaume et al., 2007; Antony et al, 2009; ), and site-specific effects. Site-specific effects are generated by the interplay between climatic factors, such as temperature, precipitations, and sea level rise and the human use of the territory. The socio-economical use of resources and the value attributed to the ecosystem services obtained from the lagoon and the watershed drive site-specific effects. An increase in temperature, a change in precipitation pattern and a relevant sea level rise (SLR) is globally expected (IPCC, 2007). Ecological responses to CC and the propagation of effects are characterized by a non-linear behaviour mediated by biological processes as a consequence of complex linkages between various components of the ecosystem. These responses involve direct and indirect alterations of physiology and behaviour encompassing many scales and levels of organization from genome, to individual, population, community, ecosystem, landscape, biome and, last but not least, the human society.