Temporal and spatial differences in nitrogen and phosphorus biogeochemistry and ecosystem functioning of a hypertrophic lagoon (Curonian Lagoon, SE Baltic Sea) revealed via Ecological Network Analysis.

In coastal lagoons, eutrophication and hydrology are interacting factors that produce distortions in biogeochemical nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles. Such distortions affect nutrient relative availability and produce cascade consequences on primary producer's community and ecosystem functioning. In this study, the seasonal functioning of a coastal lagoon was investigated with a multielement approach, via the construction and analysis of network models.

Using food web dominator trees to catch secondary extinctions in action.

In ecosystems, a single extinction event can give rise to multiple 'secondary' extinctions. Conservation effort would benefit from tools that help forecast the consequences of species removal. One such tool is the dominator tree, a graph-theoretic algorithm that when applied to food webs unfolds their complex architecture, yielding a simpler topology made of linear pathways that are essential for energy delivery.

Effect of eutrophication upon radionuclide dynamics in the Sacca di Goro lagoon (Po River Delta, Italy): a combined field, experimental and modeling study.

The focus of this paper is on the relationship between eutrophication and radionuclide circulation at the whole ecosystem scale in the shallow estuarine environment of the Sacca di Goro (Po River Delta, Italy). This lagoon is frequently affected by dystrophic crises, due to decomposition of huge amounts of macroalgae (mainly Ulva rigida), and critical conditions created at the interface between sediment and water are such that Cs-137 accumulated in the sediment can be mobilized and made available in the water column. The release of cesium from sediment in this ecosystem has been evaluated through a field experiment in which chemical conditions typical of anoxic crises were artificially created in enclosures.