The Gongolaria barbata forest inhabiting Šćuza lagoon on the southern Istrian coast (northern Adriatic) represents the last significant refuge for this species among the shallow waters of the Istrian Coast. The lagoon is characterised by extreme winter and summer temperatures. Moreover, the absence of certain grazers could be one of the main factors favouring the development and growth of G. barbata forest. Two morphologically distinct forms of G. barbata inhabit the lagoon: attached and detached. Abundance and morphological characteristics of each form were analysed in randomly sampled thalli. The wet weight, thallus length, number of cauloids and total cauloid length were significantly higher in the detached than in the attached form. Although the main cauloid was highly branched in both forms, its total length was up to three times higher in the detached than in the attached form. Our study suggests that this population of G. barbata can thrive in the extreme conditions found in the lagoon, while also exhibiting two distinct forms. Furthermore, this large population could serve as a donor for future restoration attempts on the western Istrian Coast where a decline of G. barbata has been confirmed in recent years.

During the spring of 2016, benthic blooms of Acinetospora crinita (Ectocarpales, Phaeophyceae) producing voluminous mucilaginous aggregates frequently occurred at surveyed locations of the west Istrian Coast (northern Adriatic Sea, Croatia). In mucilage-affected macroalgal assemblages, the concentration of ammonium ranged from 50 to 300 μM. To investigate whether ammonium has the potential to harm fucalean species, a selected taxon, Cystoseira compressa was exposed to increased ammonium concentrations in laboratory conditions. Experiments revealed that exposure to 50 μM ammonium severely damaged the thalli while exposure to 300 μM caused complete necrosis of thalli in 2 days. These findings suggest that benthic algal blooms, enhanced by climate change and eutrophication, can negatively affect the populations of fucalean species due to production of ammonium during the decay of mucilaginous aggregates, causing thallus necrosis.

Fucus virsoides is an endemic species of the Mediterranean limited to the Adriatic Sea. In recent decades, it has undergone a severe regression, which is well documented in the northern Adriatic. To develop a tool for mitigating this problem, we tested the feasibility of F. virsoides restoration and designed a very simple yet effective method for ex situ cultivation and planting. We also tested the effect of positioning in the upper vs. lower intertidal on the growth of F. virsoides. After planting, the algae reached fertility in nine months, which was followed by a period of stagnation and reduction in size due to grazing and fouling. There were some differences in growth of the algae according to positioning in the intertidal at different measurement times, but that had little impact on the overall success of the restoration experiment. This represents, to our knowledge, the first successful F. virsoides ex situ cultivation and restoration attempt.