The Northeast US Shelf (NES) ecosystem spans the Middle Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Maine, is a large portion of the NW Atlantic Shelves Province, and is in a coastal biome. The waters over the NES provide an array of ecosystem services including fishing, energy development, shipping, waste disposal, recreation, and conservation. The NES ecosystem, like other productive temperate shelf ecosystems, is characterized by strong seasonality along with high levels of variability in physical forcing at timescales from days to decades, including climate impacts.

Large marine site located in the Kvarnerić area, around the sheltered coast and waters of the eastern part of the Lošinj and Cres archipelago. It is one of the most important feeding and breeding areas for bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Eastern Adriatic. Lithostratigraphic units represented on the coast are dolomites and post sedimentary diagenetic breccia (upper albian, lower cenomanian - K16, K12), rudist limestones (cenomanianmaastricht - K21-6). Soils on the coast are rockyground, anthropogenic soil on karst. The area was created after the transgression of the sea after the last glaciation; marine shelf; highly indented coastline. In July 2006 of preventive protection of a part of the Kvarnerić region for 3 years as a Special Marine Reserve (Cres-Lošinj Special Marine Reserve – CLSMR has been declared.

The Site comprises the Coastal Alagoas State portion of the Marine Protected Area Coral Coast (APACC), starting at the mouth of the Meirin River (Maceió, geographical coordinates: 9 ° 32'51 "S and 35 ° 36'59" W), following the preamar meanline, in the general northeasterly direction, bypassing and including the mangroves in all their extension to the left margin of the Persinunga River, on the border between Alagoas and Pernambuco States, geographical coordinates: 8 ° 54'49.04 "S and 35 ° 9'10.13" W, and advancing towards the direction of the Atlantic Ocean to the limit of the 10m isobath, according to the bathymetric chart of the Brazilian Navy. In this section, we can find significant samples of the main ecosystemic features present in APACC: estuaries, beach formations, marine angiosperm meadows, coralline reefs, and beach rocks.

Aquitain's karsts observatory (Aquitaine, France) regroups different karst sites located on the edge of the Aquitain sedimentary basin. These karst watersheds range from 0.01 km² (Lascaux cave) and 1 km² (Cussac cave) up to 100 km² (Toulon springs) and the land use consists of forests and agriculture under modified oceanic climate. This observatory consists of various observation and experimentation sites like patrimonial caves and large karstic hydrosystem outlets.

The site is divided into two different types of environments: 1. Coastal marine environments. Marine coastal areas of Sardinia, in particular, the Gulf of Asinara in the north and the Gulf of Olbia in the north-east, affected by different types and intensities of human impact and by the resulting presence of different environmental conditions from the point of view of water quality. 2. Lagoons and coastal ponds. Lagoons and coastal ponds located along the west-central coast of Sardinia, in the Gulf of Oristano. These sites are all important wetlands included in the Ramsar Convention, are IBA (Important Birds Area) and SIC and ZPS. The ownership of the sites is the Regional Government of Sardinia. Fisheries and aquaculture are generally the most important human activities, and there are also educational and recreational activities. They are affected by various environmental issues, mostly related to the process eutrophic.

Lake Stechlin is a a deep clear-water lake located in a nature reserve approximately 80 km north of Berlin, Germany (53°10°N, 13°02° E), at 59 m elevation.The lake basin was formed during the last continental glaciation some 12,000 years ago and today is situated at the transition between temperate/maritime and temperate-continental climates.The drainage basin is almost completely covered by forest (95%), with the exception of the area of a former nuclear power plant and a small village, which diverts its wastewater into a different drainage basin. The shoreline of Lake Stechlin is largely undeveloped with no notable infrastructure. The seepage lake is essentially fed by precipitation and groundwater, resulting in a theoretical water retention time of greater than 40 years.

The Transetto Senigallia-Susak is a transect of sampling stations located in the Northern Adriatic Sea. The IRBIM-CNR in Ancona and the Politechnical University of Marche collects from the end of years 80s physical, chemical and biological data. This is an excellent observing site to analyze the characteristics of water masses entering and leaving the North Adriatic Sea and their possible modification. In the site is also located the TeleSenigallia pylon.

The Gulf of Venice is a gulf that borders modern-day Italy, Slovenia and Croatia, and is at the north of the Adriatic Sea between the delta of the Po river in northern Italy and the Istria peninsula in Croatia. The site is under a heavy antropic impact (nutrient loads, coastal towns, fishery, tourism maritime routes). In the past eutrophic events struck the ecosystem and, more recently, frequent mucus macro-aggregates extended in the whole basin. Study of long term historical time series of the biotic community in the Gulf of Venice in relation with the biogeochemical cycles and physical properties of sea-water have been conducted since the '70s.

Lake Bohinj is of tectonic-glacial origin and was transformed by the Bohinj glacier. Its surface area is 3.28 km 2 , its volumeWeather conditions and chlorophyll concentrations determine long-term macrophyte community dynamics of Lake...92.5 × 10 6 m 3 and its maximum depth 45 m. It is located at an altitude of 525 m a.s.l. and issurrounded by mountains that are up to 2000 m high. Lake Bohinj is conditioned by the main inflow from River Savica and by several karst springs from the base of Mount Komarča and has a single outflow, River Sava Bohinjka. The residence time of the water in Lake Bohinj is about 4 months, which means that the total volume of the water in Lake Bohinj changes three times a year. The surrounding watershed comprises around 94.3 km2 and is mostly uninhabited, with a large portion extending above the tree line; therefore, the input of nutrients into Lake Bohinj is moderate. This watershed receives about 3300 mm of rainfall a year. Long-term temper-atures show a tendency to a rise. In winter, usually in January, the surface water cools and the lake can be frozen over. From 1961 to 1990, Lake Bohinj was frozen over for a mean of > 50 days/year, while in the decade from 1991 to 2000, the mean number of days with ice cover was reduced to 31 days/year. Since 1990, the lake did not freeze completely in individual years. The majority of the lake catchment area consists of carbon-ate rock, and therefore, the main lake sediment fraction is carbonate, while quartz and feldspar represent a minor part.

Hohe Tauern NP was established more than 40 years ago as one of the biggest protected areas in Central Europe to protect at long-term wide areas of the Austrian main-ridge of the Alps. The 1.856 square kilometre Hohe Tauern National Park is split into a 1.213 square kilometre core zone and a 643 square kilometre buffer zone and stretches over three provinces. Until the first and largest national park in Austria was actually created, the three provinces of Carinthia, Salzburg and Tyrol had to establish the corresponding legal framework. The Provincial Parliament of Carinthia passed the legislation to create the Hohe Tauern National Park in 1981. Salzburg followed with its national park legislation in 1984, followed by Tyrol in 1992. In this 40 years Hohe Tauern NP established the Nationalpark idea in its region working together with all stakeholders (land owners, tourism, majors, hunting organisations, governmental departments…). The International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN awarded Carinthia in 2001 and Salzburg and Tyrol in 2006 with the international recognition of a national park with its "Category II" listing. The distinction that the national park has with a core zone, where nature can develop without human influence and a buffer zone, where traditional cultivation could be continued was key for gaining this international recognition. Contractual agreements between landowners, hunters and the national park paved the way and were pioneering for many protected areas. Hohe Tauern NP contains 3 main zones: - core zone (km²): 1.078 - buffer zone (km²): 643 - special protected areas (km²): 135 About 845 km² of the area is nature zone, which remains untouched by humans (no land use based on IUCN criteria, i.e. no hunting, no grazing). The altitudinal belts from the valleys to the summits of the three-thousand-metre-tall mountains represent an exceptional biodiversity. This is home to many plants and wildlife species originating from the Central Asian tundra, the Arctic and even Southern Europe. The preservation of all significant Alpine ecosystems across large areas of the Hohe Tauern National Park has been unimpaired. More than one third of all plant species recorded in Austria can be found in the national park. For mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, this figure is at around 50%. Even those animals that were nearly extinct in almost all of Europe at the beginning of the 19th century are now provided a safe habitat in the Hohe Tauern National Park. This impressive biodiversity is a result of the different prevailing climatic, geological, geomorphological and hydrological conditions in the high mountains and the differing adaptation strategies of the plants and animals. The Tauern Window – a unique tectonic window in terms of shape and size – provides insight into the deepest tectonic layer of the Alps and is thus key for understanding the geological structure of the Alps. Rocks of differing ages, different origins and different chemical composition harbour a genuine hoard of up to 200 different minerals. Nature protection (ecosystems/Natura2000 habitats) and species conservation projects play a big role in the work and history of Hohe Tauern NP (e.g. bearded vulture, ibex, golden eagle, …). The NP and its work do not stop at the protected areas borders and for a lot of species it is important that the whole region is aware of its impacts on biodiversity. According to the altitude gradation of the Hohe Tauern National Park "high mountain habitat types" are typical. Based on the aerial photo interpretation of the National Park montane to alpine grassland and pastures dominate with a third. This also reflects the zoning with the outer zone in the sense of an Alpine cultural landscape zone with alpine pastures – and the transition to the high alpine core zone. The core zone is formed by the "eternal ice" of the glaciers around the highest mountains of Austria as well as scree slopes with and without pioneer vegetation dominate. CORINE Land Cover L3 (2018): 35 % bare rocks, 24 % natural grasslands, 20 % sparsely vegetated areas, 9 % coniferous forest, 7 % glaciers and perpetual snow, 2 % moors and heathland, 1 % pastures.