The present results dealing with the antiphytoviral activity of essential oil indicate that these plant metabolites can trigger a response to viral infection. The essential oil from Micromeria croatica and the main oil components β-caryophyllene and caryophyllene oxide were tested for antiphytoviral activity on plants infected with satellite RNA associated cucumber mosaic virus. Simultaneous inoculation of virus with essential oil or with the dominant components of oil, and the treatment of plants prior to virus inoculation, resulted in a reduction of virus infection in the local and systemic host plants. Treatment with essential oil changed the level of alternative oxidase gene expression in infected Arabidopsis plants indicating a connection between the essential oil treatment, aox gene expression and the development of viral infection.

In this study we present the results of a ten year survey of the aquatic macroinvertebrate fauna along four karst rivers: Jadro, Žrnovnica, Grab and Ruda, all of them situated in the Middle Dalmatia region of Croatia, in an attempt to construct the Iliric Biotic Index, which will be more applicable for the water quality analysis than the most frequently applied biotic index in Croatia, the Italian Modification of Extended Biotic Index. The rivers geologically belong to the Dinaric karst, unique geological phenomena in Europe. Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected along each river at 15 sites by standard methods of sampling along with several physicochemical parameters, including: temperature, dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, alkalinity, hardness and pH. Univariate and multivariate techniques revealed differences in the macroinvertebrate community structure as well as in physicochemical parameters between the Karst rivers and continental rivers. Based on those differences, the Iliric Biotic Index was proposed as the standard of karst river water quality in Croatia in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive. Differences between the Iliric Biotic Index and the most commonly used biotic indices in the European Community and the USA (The Biological Monitoring Working Party (B.M.W.P.) scores, i.e. Extended Biotic Index, Indice Biotique, Family Biotic Index) suggest that karst rivers need a new biotic index.

The Kaštela Bay (Croatia) is known, by the use of Fast micromethod, as an area with the highest level of genotoxic agents along the Adriatic Sea. The genotoxic impacts in Kastela Bay and the neighbouring Trogir Bay using micronucleus test and Comet assay with mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) haemocytes were assesed during 2003 and 2004. This location received effluents from various industries (brewery, cement plant, etc.), ports (oil and general port), the Split shipyard, Vranjic shipworks along with domestic sewage and agricultural discharge that enters the bay without any treatment. In the meantime, a lot of industries were closed and the input of pollutants were discontinued. The tested mussels from the 2003–2004 confirmed that mussels from Kaštela Bay were affected by genotoxic contaminants. The aim of our study was to assess genotoxic impacts on Mytilus galloprovincialis in the same area after six years using Comet Assay test. Our survey showed decreses of genotoxic damage on mussel haemocytes.

This study focused on the aquatic insect community in the longitudinal gradient and temporal scales of the Jadro River. The river was sampled for a period of ten years (2000– 2010), four times per year through the various seasons, along the river course. Sampling stations were selected in the upper, middle, and downstream parts of the river. A total of 21,852 specimens of aquatic insects belonging to six orders were obtained. The species determination confirmed 27 different species in the river. The data were analyzed by the multivariate methodologies of correspondence analysis and cluster analysis (unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean) using the similarity index of Morosita for all ten years. Canonical correspondence analysis was applied to the data to check which of the mesured physicochemical variables significantly explained community variation. According to those data, significant variables for the upper station were water temperature and dissolved oxygen, and chlorides was the significant variable for the lower stations.

This article presents the results of a survey on the population of Congeria kusceri Bole, 1962 Bole, J. 1962. Congeria kusceri sp.n. (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae). Biološki Vestnik, 10: 55–61. [Google Scholar] from the pit ‘Jama u Predolcu’ near Metković (Croatia). This species is ‘a living fossil’ and the only subterranean bivalve in the world living in the subterranean waters of the Dinaric karst of Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia. The investigation of Congeria kusceri population in the Pit ‘Jama u Predolcu’ included the collection of live specimens for morphometric and histological analyses (sex determination). The survey was carried out from January to December 2009 and samples were collected every month. As Congeria kusceri is a protected subterranean species, we obtained permission to collect only 30 specimens per month. We measured several physical and chemical variables of the underground water in an attempt to examine the relationship between the underground ecological conditions and the reproductive cycle. Physical and chemical values did not show any seasonal changes that could affect the reproductive cycle of Congeria kusceri, contrary to the case of surface freshwater mussels. The histological examination of the gonads revealed hermaphroditic as well as gonochorist specimens. The prepared sections of gills did not confirm that Congeria kusceri brood its larvae in them.