The efficiency of nitrogen recovery before leaf fall in different woody species was studied with respect to the phenology of leaf abscission and to different estimates of nitrogen availability. Among the factors considered, the duration of the abscission period shows the strongest effect on the translocation efficiency. The species with gradual leaf fall exhibit lower percentages of nitrogen recovery, probably due to greater unpredictability of the exact time of abscission. Gradual leaf fall seems to be an adaptation to water stress in regions with an arid or semiarid climate. The species that occupy the more xeric sites thus show lower retranslocation rates. By contrast, the factors related to nitrogen availability show no clear effect on the reabsorption efficiency.

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Nitrogen retranslocation from senescing leaves represents a crucial adaptation by tree species towards a more efficient use of this nutrient. As a result, this part of the nitrogen cycle has received increasing attention in recent years. However, there remain strong discrepancies with respect to the factors responsible for interspecific differences in the efficiency of this process.In the present work the seasonal pattern of leaf growth and the movement of nitrogen in leaves have been studied in a series of Quercus ilex plots with different levels of rainfall and soil quality in centralwestern Spain, as well as in 20 other woody species typical of this area. The percentage of nitrogen retranslocated was estimated from the difference between the maximum mass of nitrogen stored in the leaf biomass and the amount of this nutrient returned annually to the soil through leaf fall.Q. ilex appears as one of the least efficient species in the Mediterranean region in the recovery of nitrogen from senescing leaves (29.7°0 of the maximum pool). Furthermore, the older leaves of Q. ilex do not show the cycles of nitrogen withdrawal during new flushes of shoot growth, such as occurs in Pinus spp. This suggests that older leaves in Q. ilex do not play an important role as nitrogen storage organs.

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Increases in the intensity of disturbances in coastal lagoons can lead to shifts in vegetation from aquatic angiosperms to macroalgal or phytoplankton communities. Such abrupt and discontinuous responses are facilitated by instability in the equilibrium controlling the trajectory of the community response. We hypothesized that the shift in macrophyte populations is reversible, and that this reversibility is dependent on changes in the pressures exerted on the watershed and lagoon functioning. Biguglia lagoon (Mediterranean Sea, Corsica) is an interesting case study for the evaluation of long-term coastal lagoon ecosystem functioning and the trajectory of submerged macrophyte responses to disturbances, to facilitate the appropriate restoration of ecosystems. We used historical data for a two hundred-year period to assess changes in human activities on the watershed of the Biguglia lagoon. Macrophyte mapping (from 1970) and monitoring data for dynamics (from 1999) were used to investigate the trajectory of the community response. The changes observed in this watershed included a large number of hydrological developments affecting salinity and resulting in changes in macrophyte distribution. Nutrient inputs over the last 40 years have led to a shift in the aquatic vegetation from predominantly aquatic angiosperm community to macroalgae and phytoplankton in 2007 (dystrophic crisis). Changes in hydrological management and improvements in sewage treatment after 2007 led to a significant increase of aquatic angiosperms over a relatively short period of time (4-5 years), particularly for Ruppia cirrhosa and Stuckenia pectinata. There has been a significant resurgence of Najas marina, due to changes in salinity. The observed community shift suggests that Biguglia lagoon is resilient and that the transition may be reversible. The restored communities closely resemble those present before Please note that this is an author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available on the publisher Web site.disturbance. These findings demonstrate the need to understand watershed exploitation and ecosystem variability in lagoon restoration.

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This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues.Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. a b s t r a c tIn shallow human-impacted systems, sediment resuspension events can result in pulsed exposures of pelagic organisms to multiple contaminants. Here, we examined the impact of the resuspension of contaminated sediment on phytoplankton in the Biguglia lagoon (Corsica, Mediterranean Sea), by conducting an in situ microcosm experiment over a 96-h period. Natural phytoplankton was exposed to elutriates prepared from a contaminated-sediment resuspension simulating process, and its functional and structural responses were compared with those of non-exposed phytoplankton. The elutriates displayed moderate multiple contamination by trace metals and PAHs. Our results show that elutriate exposure induced both functional and structural phytoplankton changes. Elutriates strongly stimulated phytoplankton growth after 24 h of exposure. They also enhanced phytoplankton photosynthetic performance during the first hours of exposure (up to 48 h), before reducing it toward the end of the experiment. Elutriates were also found to slightly stimulate Bacillariophyceae and conversely to slightly inhibit Dinophyceae in the short term. Additionally, they were found to stimulate phycocyanin-rich picocyanobacteria in the short term (8e48 h) before inhibiting it in the longer term (72e96 h), and to inhibit eukaryotic nanophytoplankton in the short term (8e48 h) before stimulating it in the longer term (72e96 h). Sediment resuspensions are thus likely to have significant effects on the global dynamics and functions of phytoplankton in contaminated coastal environments.

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