Analysis of monthly data collected from 2000 to 2009 at 13 stations
distributed to give a reasonable spatial coverage of the Venice lagoon
shows that the TDN/TDP ratio in the water column increased markedly
fromabout 40:1 in 2000 to about 100:1 by atoms in 2009. This increase
appears to be caused by the preferential removal of P and cannot be
related to the TDN/TDP ratio in the freshwater entering the lagoon
from the drainage basin nor to the TDN/TDP ratio in the adjoining Gulf
of Venicewaters. Therefore, itmust reflect processes taking placewithin
the lagoon. Guided by the literature