Plankton under Pressure: How Water Conditions Alter the Phytoplankton–Zooplankton Link in Coastal Lagoons

Transitional waters (TWs), such as coastal lagoons, are bodies of surface water at the transition between saline and freshwater domains. These environments play a vital role in guaranteeing ecosystem services, including provision food, protection against meteorological events, anthropogenic carbon sinks, filtering pollutants. Due to escalating overpopulation characterising coastlines worldwide, transitional systems over-exploited, degraded, reduced their macroscopic features. However, information on impact pressures planktonic organisms these is still scanty fragmented. Herein, we summarise literature, with special focus lagoons undergoing pressure. Specifically, report implications human impacts ecological state plankton, i.e., fundamental component aquatic ecosystems. Literature indicates that forces may alter structures functions other TWs estuaries, hampering phytoplankton–zooplankton link, main trophic process occurring those communities, which sustains productivity. Changes dominance lifestyle key players, plus invasion ‘alien’ species, consequent regime shifts, among most common outcomes disturbance.