As with other lagoonal systems, the geomorphological characteristics
of the Lagoon of Lesina, understood as a filter (sensu Cloern,
2001), modulate the equilibrium between energy flows (solar
radiation, wind and tides); matter flows (rains, inputs from surface
and subterranean waters and runoff); and mechanisms that guide
processes inside the system itself (such as mineralisation of organic
matter, accumulation of autotrophic biomass and sedimentation/
resuspension rates, i.e., vertical flows). The combination of these
factors and the internal system processes that derive from them
determines space–time fluctuations in the hydrological heterogeneity
of lagoonal ecosystems