Capo Feto is a typical Mediterranean wetland (margi) located along the south-western coast of Sicily, 5 km west of Mazara del Vallo (37.68° N, 12.48° E). The study area is included in the inner surface of the Life-Nature project requalification financing to the UE. The marshland has a total extension of 1.4 Km2 and an average depth of 1.75 m. (Fig. 1). The catchment’s area of Capo Feto coastal zone shows the typical feature of wetland habitat.

The “Rada di Augusta” is a wide natural bay which covers about 30 Km of the eastern coast of Sicily). Augusta Bay (Lat. 37,21°N - Long. 15,23° E) is situated between Capo Santa Croce and Punta Magnisi. In the past years, part of the bay has been walled up with breakwaters to form a vast harbour basin communicating with the sea through two narrow inlets (east and south).

The Capo Peloro is a brackish system located on the north-eastern corner of Sicily, Italy. It consists of two basins, Ganzirri Lake (or Pantano Grande) and Faro Lake (or Pantano Piccolo), connected to each other by a channel. Both of them communicate with the Ionian Sea, moreover the Faro Lake occasionally exchanges water also with the Tyrrenian Sea. 

The Mar Piccolo of Taranto is located North of the town of Taranto (Fig. 1) and has a surface area of 20.72 km2. It is an inner, semi-enclosed basin with lagoon features divided by two rocky promontories into two inlets, called First Inlet (Primo Seno) and Second Inlet (Secondo Seno) which have a maximum depth of 13 and 8 m, respectively. The Mar Piccolo is connected with the Mar Grande through two channels, the Navigabile channel and the Porta Napoli channel, of which only the former is important for the water exchange in the basin. Tidal range does not exceed 30-40 cm.

Torre Guaceto (Fig.1) is located in the Apulia region (ITALY), on the Adriatic coast, about 15 km North of Brindisi (40.7149°N-17.7989°E). The name of the area comes from the Arabic terms “GAW SIT” that means “freshwater site”. In 1981 the Torre Guaceto wetland was included in the List of Wetlands of International Importance (the "Ramsar List") under the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) and it was declared Special Protection Area by the Italian Minister of Agriculture.

The Ligurian–Provencal Basin, together with the Gulf of Lions and the Catalan Sea, forms the North-western Mediterranean Basin. This region is characterized by a general cyclonic circulation fed by two distinct fluxes, one from the Tyrrhenian Sea through the Corsica Channel and the other from the northwestern side of Corsica. The two fluxes merge north of the island generating a very stable current that closely follows the sea bottom bathymetry along the Italian coast.

The lagoon of Venice is the largest Italian Lagoonand one of the largest in Europe. It is located in the northern part of the Adriatic Sea (45.2° - 45.6°N, 12.2° and 12.6°E). Three narrow inlets connect thelagoon to the Adriatic sea, entailing a subdivision in three sub-basins, separated by two watersheds along which the intensity of the tidal currents is low.

The Valle Smarlacca lagoon is located on the North western Adriatic coast of Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. The lagoon is part of the Valli di Comacchio lagoon system(44.58°N, 12.23°E), a wide complex of shallow water impoundments (see the Valli di Comacchio information sheet). Valle Smarlacca is located in the southeast corner of the Valli di Comacchio, close to the Reno River. It has a surface area ofabout 2 km and a mean water depth of 0.8 m.

The Orbetello lagoon is located in southern Tuscany (Italian West Coast), between 42°25’28” and 42°28’57” lat. North and between 11°10’6” and 11°16’45” long. East, and covers a total area of 25.25 km. This lagoon consists of two communicating basins known as Ponente (West) and Levante (East) measuring in area respectively 15.25 and 10.00 km (values according to Travaglia & Lorenzini, 1985, modified as a result of recent filling operations), with an average depth of about 1 m. The tidal range is small and varies between 0.1 and 0.45m.

Capo Feto is a typical Mediterranean wetland (margi) located along the south-western coast of Sicily, 5 km west of Mazara del Vallo (37.68° N, 12.48° E). The study area is included in the inner surface of the Life-Nature project requalification financing to the UE. The marshland has a total extension of 1.4 Km2 and an average depth of 1.75 m. (Fig. 1). The catchment’s area of Capo Feto coastal zone shows the typical feature of wetland habitat.

The “Rada di Augusta” is a wide natural bay which covers about 30 Km of the eastern coast of Sicily). Augusta Bay (Lat. 37,21°N - Long. 15,23° E) is situated between Capo Santa Croce and Punta Magnisi. In the past years, part of the bay has been walled up with breakwaters to form a vast harbour basin communicating with the sea through two narrow inlets (east and south).

The Capo Peloro is a brackish system located on the north-eastern corner of Sicily, Italy. It consists of two basins, Ganzirri Lake (or Pantano Grande) and Faro Lake (or Pantano Piccolo), connected to each other by a channel. Both of them communicate with the Ionian Sea, moreover the Faro Lake occasionally exchanges water also with the Tyrrenian Sea. 

The Mar Piccolo of Taranto is located North of the town of Taranto (Fig. 1) and has a surface area of 20.72 km2. It is an inner, semi-enclosed basin with lagoon features divided by two rocky promontories into two inlets, called First Inlet (Primo Seno) and Second Inlet (Secondo Seno) which have a maximum depth of 13 and 8 m, respectively. The Mar Piccolo is connected with the Mar Grande through two channels, the Navigabile channel and the Porta Napoli channel, of which only the former is important for the water exchange in the basin. Tidal range does not exceed 30-40 cm.

Torre Guaceto (Fig.1) is located in the Apulia region (ITALY), on the Adriatic coast, about 15 km North of Brindisi (40.7149°N-17.7989°E). The name of the area comes from the Arabic terms “GAW SIT” that means “freshwater site”. In 1981 the Torre Guaceto wetland was included in the List of Wetlands of International Importance (the "Ramsar List") under the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) and it was declared Special Protection Area by the Italian Minister of Agriculture.