34 (2): 99-105 (2010) UDK 581.526.52(496.5) Original Scientific Paper Received 11 September 2009 Revision accepted 04 June 2010 © 2010 Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden Jevremovac, Belgrade ✳ correspondence: bioalma_79@yahoo.com Costal vegetation of the Lalzi bay (Albania) Alma Imeri 1✳ , Alfred Mullaj 2 , Erta Dodona 1 and Lirika Kupe 1 1 Faculty of Agronomy, Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania 2 Museum of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana, Albania ABSTRACT: e paper presents results of a vegetation survey of Lalzi bay, a specific Albanian costal habitat. Lalzi Bay, due to the geographic position, geology and hidrology, specific clime, offers a very rich vegetation. is is reflected in the big number of sintaxa. Plants assosiations are classified based on principless of Zurich–Montpellier school that made the base of classification in Europe sites. In this study, there 19 associations were analyzed, included in 16 alliances, that belong to 10 orders and 9 classes, with high plant diversity. Key words: sandy dunes, phytosociology, vegetation dynamics INTRODUCTION About 2 million people, half of the population of the Albania, live in the coastal region. Economic activities in the coastal areas are constantly expanding. Permanently increasing tourism and pollution has already resulted in disruption of or highly negative impacts on fragile ecosystems, impacts on quality of life of resident populations and loss of habitats and species. e resulting impacts on the Albanian coastal and marine biodiversity might be considered as dramatic. Present and future trends concerning adverse global phenomena, climate change in particular, are expected to worsen the situation. Lalzi Bay has a longitude of 18 km, on Adriatic coast and it is bordered from the Erzen river waterway on the south, up to the north of the Rodon Cape. e Lalzi Bay area is considered as one of the most important areas in Albania based on the high biodiversity values and the number of habitat found there. e value of Lalzi Bay area for wildlife conservation has been recognized for many years, particularly in terms of the wide variety of plants and animals associated with them. e Lalzi bay is a wetland complex composed by many different habitats, where the most important are: Bishtaraka Lagoons, Erzeni delta, salt marshes, sand dunes, Mediterranean pine forests and riparian forests. During the 20 th century, starting from the 1950s, and especially the mid 1960s, approximately 2/3 of the wetland area of Lalzi Bay area was drained. At the time, drainage had been deemed necessary to confront the important problems of malaria, flooding, and the supply of irrigation water and the acquisition of more areas for cultivation. In addition to drainage, other interventions were made (e.g. confinement of riverbeds, clearing of natural vegetation, construction of dams). Currently it is established that a lot of drainage and other interventions were mistaken because they did not yield the expected economic and social benefits and they led to the loss of values that at the time were unknown. Currently, Lalzi Bay area continue to be threatened by alteration of their functions which means degradation of their values, despite the fact that certain positive step in the direction of their sustainable management have started. e aim of this study was to describe the basic types of vegetation in this area, and to show global importance of area of Lalzi Bay and needs for their effective protection.