[3] The lagoon is located at the northeastern edge of Mediterranean Sea, 30 km south of the city of Adana, in Cilicia region of Turkey.

Akyatan lake and the lagoons were formed during the 4th era (10,000 years ago) when water levels at the Mediterranean started changing.

Also, salt ratio is high at the areas close to the sea connection, and low at the northern sections of the lake where the drainage waters and leakage is effective.

Deltas in the conservation area are one of the most fertile lands in the world, where the micro and the macro flora production reaches very high levels.

The food network, that is formed by high fertility, feeds and shelters a rich wildlife with wide variety of species especially waterfowls.

Variety of habitats and rich plant and animal collection makes Akyatan an outdoor laboratory for scientific studies.

Akyatan lagoon acts as a multipurpose wetland ecosystem, serving the surrounding communities by creating economy through fishing and by providing recreation.

[citation needed] Turkish-Iranian and Mediterranean plant geography dominates the area that Akyatan lagoon is situated.

Clear water surfaces, reedbeds, fresh and salty swamps, fresh water ponds, small lakes, wide dune ecosystems and shores provide habitats with different ecological characters which attracts wide variety of wildlife especially waterfowls.

The wide dunes between the lake and the sea, shrub areas are suitable living environments for carnivorous mammals.

At the rich wetland habitats of Akyatan, hylidae, marsh frog and European green toad can be observed in large numbers.

The other reptiles common at the dunes are; Montpellier snake, coluber, lacertidae, mabuya aurata, chameleon, cyrtopodion, agama stellio.

Being on the migration route, rich habitat variety and suitable climate makes Akyatan an important place for birds.

The shorebirds that form large flocks during the migration period are; avocet, lesser charadriidae, little stint, ruff and black-tailed godwit.

The insect-rich reedbed shores, shrub covered dunes of the lagoon are an ideal areas for feeding and nesting of hoopoe, European roller and swallows.

During the harsh winters of inland Anatolia, with the freeze of lakes at plateaus, huge flocks of birds fly to Akyatan.

Akyatan is an important breeding area for the endangered marbled duck and rarely seen purple swamphen and black francolin.

In 2006 and 2007, WWF Turkey and the Local Directorate of Ministry of Environment and Forest of Adana initiated a marine turtle monitoring and conservation survey in Çukurova Delta in collaboration with the Adnan Menderes University.

WWF Turkey's site-based monitoring activities during the summer of 2006 highlighted the strong impact of jackal predation on the turtle nests (approx.

The application of metal grids over the nests is seen as an appropriate measure that takes into account that the population of the jackal is also endangered on a Mediterranean level.

[5] Çukurova University is carrying out the basic studies in the frame of an EU-Life project (LIFETCY/99/TR-087) and has made the necessary preparations to protect the nesting areas of green turtles as a Biosphere Reserve.

The proposed Biosphere Reserve would give the entire delta area an overall protection status that would include the sand dune system, which is unique in the eastern Mediterranean.

The north end of Magarsos was surrounded by walls and the ruins from the city today are the castle, the theater, Athena Temple, the bath, sarcophagus and the cistern on the port side.

Major agricultural products include cotton, rice, melon, watermelon, strawberry, and grains; citruses are also common.

Karataş fishermen built a traditional fish trap at the exit from the lagoon to the sea, to capture species like gray mullet, gilt-head bream, sea bass, eel, Capoeta antalyensis (ray-finned fish), barbus, carp, common carp, rainbow trout and capoeta.