The Black Sea zooplankton: Composition, spatial/temporal distribution and history of investigations

Investigations into the composition, spatial and temporal distribution of the Black Sea zooplankton were reviewed in context with its historical development. The review comprises the main zooplankton studies published by the riparian countries of the Black Sea beginning with the earliest faunistic publications in the 1860s and 1870s up to the recent multinational ecosystem investigations carried out within the framework of the NATO-TU-Black Sea Project. The reviewed material covers a wide subject range of zooplankton investigations from descriptive studies to distribution and the production mechanisms in the ecosystem. The main findings of recently performed large scale investigations into the horizontal and vertical distribution of zooplankton were also summarized and short and long term fluctuations in the composition and biomass were also analysed. Additionally, the influences of natural and anthropogenic factors on these changes were discussed and problem areas to be investigated in future were underlined