Abstract
The Danube Delta (4,455 km2) is the second largest delta in Europe after the Volga Delta, shared by Romania (3,510 km2 (79%)) and Ukraine (945 km2 (21%)). It forms part of a large wetland region including several limans, large lakes that formed when the Danube permanently flooded the lower parts of the valleys of tributary rivers (about 6,496 km2). The Danube River branches are the main conduits of water and sediments discharged through the Danube Delta, and a large diversity of natural, partially man-modified and anthropogenic ecosystems (30) have formed, hosting a wide variety of taxa with 7,402 species recorded to date. In addition to supporting a high level of biodiversity, the Danube Delta Region provides many ecosystem services including its important effect on water quality and nutrient retention, and provision of extensive economic and environmental benefits to the local communities (about 200,000 inhabitants) living in and around the Delta. The management of the Danube Delta should consider short and medium term needs including a wetland restoration program to increase the natural flooded area in abandoned polders, measures to reduce the impact of the more ecologically damaging economic activities including navigation and related hydrotechnical works and over-exploitation of natural resources, and transboundary cooperation.
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Baboianu, G. (2016). Danube Delta: The Transboundary Wetlands (Romania and Ukraine). In: Finlayson, C., Milton, G., Prentice, R., Davidson, N. (eds) The Wetland Book. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6173-5_192-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6173-5_192-2
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