Abstract. Submarine canyons are known as one of the seafloor morphological features where living cold-water coral (CWC) communities develop in the Mediterranean Sea. We investigated the CWC community of the two westernmost submarine canyons of the Gulf of Lions canyon system: the Cap de Creus Canyon (CCC) and Lacaze-Duthiers Canyon (LDC). Coral associations have been studied through video material recorded by means of a manned submersible and a remotely operated vehicle. Video transects have been conducted and analyzed in order to obtain information on (1) coral bathymetric distribution and density patterns, (2) size structure of coral populations, and (3) coral colony position with respect to the substrate. Madrepora oculata was the most abundant CWC in both canyons, while Lophelia pertusa and Dendrophyllia cornigera mostly occurred as isolated colonies or in small patches. An important exception was detected in a vertical cliff in LDC where a large L. pertusa framework was documented. This is the first record of such an extended L. pertusa framework in the Mediterranean Sea. In both canyons coral populations were dominated by medium and large colonies, but the frequent presence of small-sized colonies also indicate active recruitment. The predominant coral orientation (90° and 135°) is probably driven by the current regime as well as by the sediment load transported by the current flows. In general, no clear differences were observed in the abundance and in the size structure of the CWC populations between CCC and LDC, despite large differences in particulate matter between canyons.

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Many riparian ecosystems in Mediterranean Europe are affected by land use and flow alteration by dams. We focused on understanding how these stressors and their components affect riparian forests in the region. We asked the following questions: (1) Are there well‐defined, responsive riparian guilds? (2) Do dam‐induced streamflows determine abundance and distribution of riparian guilds? (3) What are the main drivers governing composition and cover of riparian guilds in regulated rivers? We inventoried the cover of riparian woody species in free‐flowing rivers and downstream of dams. We performed a cluster analysis and ordination to derive riparian guilds, using abundance data from 66 riparian woody species and 26 functional plant traits. We used a reduced set of principal components for the environment, land use and hydrology, and general linear modelling to explore the effect of these factors (separately and combined) on riparian guilds. We found that: (1) four dominant guilds are responsive to disturbance in southwestern European streams, namely the obligate riparian, water‐stress tolerant, deciduous competitive and Mediterranean evergreen guilds; (2) a set of land use and hydrological variables differentially affect the diverse co‐occurring riparian guilds; (3) frequency and duration of high flow pulses and the low‐flow conditions were major drivers of change in landscapes dominated by intensive agriculture and forestry; (4) storage reservoirs reduced the cover of obligate riparian and Mediterranean evergreen guilds, and increased the abundance of water‐stress tolerant and deciduous competitive guilds, while run‐of‐river dams, having limited water storage, reduced both obligate and deciduous competitive guilds. Synthesis and applications. Future research in southwestern Europe should address the resilience of riparian guilds and the effects of interacting landscape factors and stressors on guild distribution. Streamflow regulations downstream of reservoirs should focus on specific flow components, namely the magnitude of flows, and frequency and duration of extreme flow events. For successful mitigation of the dam‐induced effects on riparian vegetation, river management plans must incorporate the environmental and land use site‐specific contexts.

Protists have proved to be an interesting tool for assessing the occurrence of pollution in wastewater treatment systems along with its role in the control of pollution itself through grazing of dispersed bacteria and maintenance of a healthy trophic web in those artificial ecosystems. Two sets of assays were carried on in a bench scale pilot plant in order to study the response of the activated sludge community of protists to the exposure of copper: the first set was carried on with synthetic sewage and the second one with real sewage. The results emphasize the ability of activated sludge biological communities to survive and to react to toxicants and highlight the role of protistan communities as indicators of toxicants entrance in treatment systems.

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Submarine canyons are known as one of the seafloor morphological features where living cold-water coral (CWC) communities develop in the Mediterranean Sea. We investigated the CWC community of the two westernmost submarine canyons of the Gulf of Lions canyon system: the Cap de Creus Canyon (CCC) and Lacaze Duthiers Canyon (LDC). Coral associations have been studied through video material recorded by means of a manned submersible and a remotely operated vehicle. Video transects have been conducted and analyzed in order to obtain information on (1) coral bathymetric distribution and density patterns, (2) size structure of coral populations, and (3) coral colony orientation with respect to the substrate. <i>Madrepora oculata</i> was the most abundant CWC in both canyons, while <i>Lophelia pertusa</i> and <i>Dendrophyllia cornigera</i> mostly occurred as isolated colonies or in small patches. An important exception was detected in a vertical cliff in LDC where a large <i>Lophelia pertusa</i> framework was documented. This is the first record of such an extended <i>L. pertusa</i> framework in the Mediterranean Sea. In both canyons coral populations were dominated by medium and large colonies, but the frequent presence of small-sized colonies also indicate active recruitment. The predominant coral orientation with respect to the substrate (90° and 135°) is probably driven by the current regime as well as by the sediment load transported by the current flows. In general no clear differences were observed between the CWC populations from CCC and LDC, despite large differences in particulate matter between canyons

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Essential oils (EOs) from Eucalyptus globulus Labill. ssp. globulus and from Mediterranean autochthonous aromatic plants - Thymus mastichina L., Mentha pulegium L., Rosmarinus officinalis L., Calamintha nepeta (L.) Savi ssp. nepeta, Cistus ladanifer L., Foeniculum vulgare L., Dittrichia viscosa (L.) Greuter ssp. viscosa - were extracted by hydrodistillation and characterized by GC-FID and NMR spectroscopy. EOs were evaluated for antimicrobial properties against several bacterial strains, using diverse methods, namely, the agar disc-diffusion method, the microdilution method, the crystal violet assay and the Live/Dead staining for assessment of biofilm formation. Potential synergy was assessed by a checkerboard method. EOs of R. officinalis and C. ladanifer showed a predominance in monoterpene hydrocarbons (> 60%); EOs of C. nepeta, M. pulegium, T. mastichina, E. globulus and F. vulgare were rich in oxygenated monoterpenes (62 - 96%) whereas EO of D. viscosa was mainly composed of oxygenated sesquiterpenes (54%). All EOs showed antimicrobial activity; M. pulegium and E. globulus generally had the strongest antimicrobial activity. EO of C. nepeta was the most promising in hampering the biofilm formation. The combinations D. viscosa/C. nepeta and E. globulus/T. mastichina were synergistic against Staphylococcus aureus. These results support the notion that EOs from the aromatic plants herein reported should be further explored as potential pharmaceuticals and/or food preservatives.