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At the end of July 2004, a "black-spot" appeared in the western portion of Lake Garda, an oligomictic lake classified as meso-oligotrophic. A few days later, this phenomenon spread throughout the lake. A first analysis by optical microscopy revealed that the origin of the black spot was a ciliated protozoan. Ciliates represent a small percentage of the total zooplanktonic community of Lake Garda and have never produced bloom episodes. Using morphological and molecular analysis, we characterized the protozoan responsible for the bloom as Stentor amethystinus and its symbiotic algae as a Chlorella sp. Continuous monitoring of the northeast of Lake Garda showed that the apex of the S. amethystinus bloom took place during the first 20 days of August, and the highest density of S. amethystinus occurred in the euphotic zone. During this period, high chlorophyll a values were obtained in water samples collected from the euphotic zone due to the presence of the endosymbiont Chlorella. After early September, the black spot completely disappeared, and the causative organism was detected at low concentration only in the southern basin of the lake. The results obtained on the progress of the black spot phenomenon led us to hypothesize that: (i) S. amethystinus was recently introduced in Lake Garda by anthropogenic activities or it was already a member of the zooplanktonic community but at a very low concentration; (ii) S. amethystinus blooms may have been driven by an unusual high availability of total phosphorous in the euphotic zone and (iii) Lake Garda is not the preferred habitat for S. amethystinus.

Cymbalaria muralis subsp. pilosa contains a new iridoid, which we have named muralioside, besides the known antirrhinoside, linarioside, antirrhide, linaride, 8-epiloganic acid and macfadienoside. Muralioside was shown to be 7β-hydroxy-harpagide by spectroscopic means and probably arises from the opening of the epoxide ring of antirrhinoside. Following this biogenetic suggestion, the partial synthesis of muralioside from antirrhinoside was carried out by protic acid catalysis.

Charophytes (stoneworts and bassweeds) are a typical macrophytic component of inland water ecosystems. Well-developed submerged meadows of charophytes are expression of clear water and rather low phytoplankton concentrations. Consequently, among aquatic macroscopic primary producers, charophytes are one of the most threatened groups being very sensitive to phosphorous availability, turbidity and water level perturbations. Accordingly, charophytes have been suffering a massive diversity loss worldwide over the last century, mainly because of human-induced pressures. During summer 2011, detailed field surveys were carried out with the main purpose of filling knowledge gaps concerning aquatic flora and vegetation of the lake Garda – the largest lake in Italy and one of the deepest in Europe. Along randomly selected transects, floristic data were collected following standard procedures, as imposed by the Water Framework Directive. Overall, 12 different species of charophytes were recorded, which accounts for 36% of total Italian charophytes and 19% of European species. The most diffuse species were Chara globularis and C. intermedia; whereas, the most interesting taxa were Chara polyacantha and Nitella hyalina, two species with narrow distribution in Italy. Overall in the lake Garda, dense stands of charophytes covered almost homogeneously the littoral sectors at a water depth between 3 and 12 m. The deepest species was C. globularis, which reached a maximum depth of colonisation of about 17.5 m. Charophytes represent a major element among the primary producers in the lake Garda. The high local charophyte diversity and the rather wide most colonised areas (~1000-1200 ha) confirm that the lake Garda is an important reserve for many rare and threatened charophytes. For the first time, these results highlight the key role of the lake Garda for charophyte diversity at a national and European level.

A sensitive method for the determination of Sb at ultratrace levels was developed by coupling continuous hydride generation with non-dispersive atomic fluorescence detection. A miniature argon–hydrogen diffusion flame was employed as the atomizer and a commercially available electrodeless discharge lamp as the light source. One of the main problems was the scattering signal generated by small droplets of solution which markedly deteriorated the signal-to-noise ratio. A simple way to remove the scattering signal was to operate under mild reaction conditions in order to minimize droplet formation. Under the optimized conditions, a limit of detection of 22 pg cm–3 of Sb (3s of the blank) was achieved, with a precision of 1.2% at the 5 ng cm–3 level and the calibration graphs were linear over more than 4 decades of concentration. L-Cysteine was employed both in the pre-reduction step and in the control of the interference effects arising from concomitant elements and acid mixtures. The analytical procedure was applied to the determination of Sb in certified reference materials of sediments, metallic copper and riverine water.