We investigated the phytoplankton in the central area of the Venice lagoon in the 1990s. Water samples were collected at 46 sites in June 1993 and June 1998 and at four stations every month from
November 1998 to October 1999. Collected data include community composition, cell abundance, and cell bio-volumes, estimated with an inverted light microscope. Cell abundance distribution maps display mean (6.9 x 106 and 2.5 x 106 cells dm-3 in June 1993 and June 1998, respectively) and peak values (151 and 16 x 106 cells dm-3 in June 1993 and June 1998, respectively). The reasons for
differences in blooming taxa were investigated by processing environmental variables of the most abundant taxa by Canonical Correspondence Analysis. The environmental parameters that most
affected the species spatial distribution were salinity and temperature in June 1993 and salinity and water transparency in June 1998. Phytoplankton temporal trends confirmed the spatial distribution: the blooming period was in June and the highest cell abundances occurred close to the mainland.Istraživanja fitoplanktona središnjeg dijela Venecijanske lagune su izvršena devedesetih godina. Uzorci mora sakupljani su na 46 postaja u lipnju 1993. i u lipnju 1998. godine, a na 4 postaje jedanput mjesečno od studenog 1998. do listopada 1999. godine. Sakupljeni podaci uključuju sastav zajednice, numeričku abundanciju
i stanične volumene, određene obrnutim svjetlosnim mikroskopom. Raspodjela abundancije stanica bila je u prosjeku 6,9 x 106 i 2,5 x 106 dm-3 u lipnju 1993. godine, odnosno lipnju 1998., a maksimalne vrijednosti od 151 i 16 x 106 dm-3 u lipnju 1993., odnosno lipnju 1998. Razlozi za razlike vrsta u cvatnji proučavani su u odnosu na faktore sredine (“Canonical Correspondence Analysis”). Najjači utjecaj na prostornu raspodjelu vrsta imali su slanost i temperatura mora u lipnju 1993. te slanost i prozirnost mora u lipnju 1998. S time se podudara i prostorna raspodjela fitoplanktona. Vrijeme cvatnje nastupalo je u lipnju, s najvišim vrijednostima neopsredno uz obalu