From a broad perspective, the LOICZ (Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) approach attempts to evaluate coastal change from a system perspective and assumes that the effects taking place are due to pressures within the whole basin. The LOICZ methodology was applied to the Mediterranean Sea in order to estimate its water, salt and nutrient budget, as well as to gain insights into its biogeochemical cycles. In order to undertake this budget approach, various input data relative to the three budgets were gathered for the time period of 1996 to 2005. In the case of the Mediterranean Sea, it was seen that there is still a gap between LOICZ data requirements and the
standard monitoring practices in the coastal zone, both from a spatial as well as temporal viewpoint.
The results show that on average over the time period 1996 to 2005, the phosphorous and nitrogen budgets of 1.35·10-2 mmol m-2 d-1 and 3.22·10-1 mmol m-2 d-1, respectively, suggest an excess of release over uptake. The budget calculations translate to the fact that on average the Mediterranean Sea acts as a sink of phosphorous and nitrogen. No specific, statistically relevant trend of the water quality
and ecosystem functioning of the Mediterranean Sea was observed. An examination of the stoichiometric linkage of C, N and P through the Redfield ratio indicates that nitrogen fixation and production of dissolved inorganic carbon dominate over denitrification and consumption of dissolved inorganic carbon via net organic production.JRC.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource
