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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 60(6)

A review of terms and definitions to categorise estuaries, lagoons and associated environments

Davide Tagliapietra A C , Marco Sigovini A B and Annamaria Volpi Ghirardini B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto di Scienze Marine (CNR-ISMAR), Riva 7 Martiri, 1364/a, I-30122 Venice, Italy.

B Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia, Campo Celestia, 2734/b, I-30122 Venice, Italy.

C Corresponding author. Email: d.tagliapietra@ismar.cnr.it

Marine and Freshwater Research 60(6) 497-509 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF08088
Submitted: 20 March 2008  Accepted: 28 November 2008   Published: 19 June 2009

Abstract

Estuaries, rias, fjords, coastal lagoons, bahiras, river mouths, tidal creeks, deltas and similar coastal environments are often regarded as a single broad conceptual class. ‘Brackish’, ‘estuarine’, ‘paralic’ and ‘transitional’ are terms used in different contexts to designate collectively this class of environments. Nevertheless every term, generated from different historical perspectives and scientific points of view, excludes some of the above-mentioned environments. These terms and definitions were examined with regard to their meaning and history. The main attributes have been extracted from definitions and arranged in a conceptual scheme giving an overall direct perception of their relationships. This analysis provided evidence for the occurrence of two major groups of attributes: hydrological and geomorphic. Although the significance of hydrological attributes is instantly recognisable, geomorphic attributes imply subjacent concepts of geographical scale and hydrological features not expressly formulated in definitions, such as a limited supply of seawater to the system.

Additional keywords: coastal transitional ecosystems, seascapes, transitional waters, Water Framework Directive.


Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Professor M. Elliott, Hull University, UK, for his constructive suggestions and to Professor D. S. McLusky, University of Stirling, UK, for his kind, but firm criticism about the term ‘paralic’. Professor M. Holland, University of Georgia, USA, Professor P. Styles and Dr N. Mountney, University of Keele, UK, kindly provided information on the early use of the term ‘paralic’. Thanks to Professor N. Berlinski, Odessa State Environmental University, Odessa, Ukraine, and Dr A. Stanica, National Institute of Marine Geology and Geo-ecology (GeoEcoMar), Bucharest, Romania, for information about ‘limans’. A special thank you to Dr L. Colussi for helping with translations from Latin and to Dr O. Faraponova, ISPRA, Italy, for the translation from Russian. Thanks to Dr T. Minuzzo, Philosophy of Language, CNR-ISMAR, Italy, for fruitful discussions on definitions. The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments and suggestions provided by three anonymous referees and the editor Professor A. Boulton.


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