The Mar Piccolo is an inner, semi-enclosed sea located on the North of the town of Taranto showing lagoon features. It has a surface area of 20.72 Km2 and is divided by two promontories of land into two smaller inlets, called the First and the Second Inlet, which have a maximum depth of 12 and 8 m, respectively. Two canals, Navigable Canal (width 58 m, depth 12 m) and Porta Napoli Channel (width 48 m, depth 2.5 m), the most important for the water exchange, put the Mar Piccolo in communication with the nearby Mar Grande basin. The scarce hydrodinamism and the reduced water exchange, mainly in the Second Inlet, with the nearby Mar Grande determine the stratification of the water, especially in summer. Due to the strong anthropogenic impact, most of hard substrata are artificial. Soft substrata are sandy near the shore and muddy in the central zone of both Inlets. In the Mar Piccolo basin, tidal range is reduced, not exceeding 30-40 cm. Chemical-physical features of the basin, deeply studied in the last years, show a variable trend according to the seasons and to the Inlets. The two basins are characterized by different levels of confinement. Such a confinement is evident for chemichal-physical variables and let to immediately single out the two basins, as the variables values change moving from the First Inlet to the Second Inlet. Always along the same direction, besides the confinement, an evident increase of all the variables fluctuations is observable which points out a noticeable instability of the most confined basin. The lagoon features of the Mar Piccolo are mainly due to the presence of 34 submarine freshwater springs (locally called "Citri") of which 20 are in the First Inlet and 14 in the Second Inlet . The most important are “Galeso” (mean flow 600 L s-1) and “Citrello” (mean flow 350 L s-1) in the First Inlet and “Le Copre” (mean flow 80 L s-1) in the Second Inlet. The freshwater of the “Citri” has a uniform temperature of 18°C; therefore, they locally affect both the salinity and the temperature of seawater. Moreover, in the Mar Piccolo several small tributary rivers flow, of which the most important is “Galeso” (mean flow 50,000 m3day-1) in the First Inlet; other small rivers, less important because their flow is strongly affected by the seasons, are “Cervaro”, “Rasca” and “Rubafemmine” in the Second Inlet. Salinity ranges from 34.3 to 37.7. Seawater temperature ranges from 7.1°C to 33.6°C. Since the Mar Piccolo is an enclosed and therefore sheltered basin, it has been using for human activities for a long time. Indeed, it houses the biggest mussel farm in Italy with plants widely distributed in both the Inlets, which has a production of about 30,000 tons year-1 and employs about 800 people. Until few years ago, the most important Italian Navy base was located in the First Inlet of which only the dry-docks are still present. In addition, a small fishing fleet, of about 300 boats, is present in the First Inlet. The water-scooping machine of the steel industry catches seawater from the basin for the cooling plants. Moreover, the Mar Piccolo is subject to agricultural pollution because the irrigating waters of the surrounding fields flow into the basin by both the rivers and the submarine freshwater springs. Up to 2000, also 14 urban sewage outfalls flowed into the basin coming from some small cities near Taranto. Starting from this year, the outfalls of 11 of these were closed since their seawage pipes were connected to Bellavista depuration plant flowing outside the Mar Grande basin; currently, only 5 seawage outfalls (1 in the First Inlet and 4 in the Second Inlet) till flow into the basin. Therefore, the discharging of waste waters in the basin has noticeably been reduced.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Loch Coire Fionnaraich has a catchment of 550 ha, with a range of elevation from 236 m at the outflow to 933 m at the summit of Maol Chean-dearg. Whilst a band of Cambrian basal quartzite and "Pipe Rock" crosses beneath the northern side of the loch, the catchment geology is mostly made up of Torridonian sandstones from the Applecross and Aultbea groups. Catchment soils consist of peats and peaty podsols alongside extensive areas of exposed rock. Vegetation is dominated by Molinia and Calluna and the catchment is treeless. The surrounding moorland is managed for red deer and low numbers of feral goats are also present. A popular hiking path passes along the western shore of the loch. There are a number of very small lochans and pools on the catchment's northern boundary and one more in the north-west.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Loch Chon is a relatively large (surface area 105.7 ha) lake lying at an altitude of 92 m in the Trossachs region of central Scotland. The loch is fed by several small streams and drains to the south via Loch Ard and the River Forth. The loch has two main basins, with the deepest area (25 m) represented by a trench near the western shore. The bathymetry was first surveyed by Murray and Pullar in 1910. Some data managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment. The lake area is 106 ha

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Named Lochan a' Cheaird on historic maps, Loch Tinker lies at 418 m altitude and drains an adjacent catchment to the east of Loch Chon in the Trossachs region of central Scotland. The loch receives drainage from seepage through the catchment blanket peats and from the steep slopes to the south and east, although the main stream in this area is naturally captured just a few metres downstream of the loch outflow. The loch drains to the north east via the Allt Glasahoile which falls steeply to Loch Katrine. The loch (surface area 11.1 ha) has an irregular shoreline and the generally shallow (mean depth 3.5 m) bathymetry includes two distinct sub-basins reaching a maximum depth of 9.8 m. Three small islands are located towards the southern end of the loch. Some data managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. The site lies at 298 m altitude in the Galloway region of south-west Scotland. The loch is 12.7 ha in area and receives drainage from minor streams and catchment blanket peats. The outflow drains to the south-west into the Glenhead Burn and Loch Trool. The loch bathymetry indicates a single deep basin (maximum depth 13.5 m) offset to the south with slopes rising gently away from the southern shore. An island is located just off the western shore some 250 m from the outflow. Some data are managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Blue Lough is a small (1.9 ha) circular lake lying at 340 m altitude. The lough has no discrete inflow and drains through a Sphagnum bog to a tributary of the Annalong River. The bathymetry reveals a shallow concentric basin offset to the east, with a maximum depth of 5 m. Blue Lough is situated in a col between the Silent Valley and Annalong Valley in the Mourne Mountains of south-eastern Northern Ireland, very close to Bencrom River. The catchment is small (48 ha), but is steep and rugged, reaching a maximum altitude of 703 m. The solid geology of the catchment consists of granite which is exposed as bare rock and scree on the steep backwall and is covered with thin and often eroded blanket peat, peaty podsols and peaty gleys in the less steep areas. Bare rock, scree and eroded peat characterise the catchment, but elsewhere the vegetation is dominated by Calluna which in places is mature and in others has been intensively burnt. Land-use and management is restricted to low-intensity sheep grazing and occasional heather burning. Annual rainfall is c. 1600 mm. Some data are managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Llyn Cwm Mynach lies at 287 m altitude. The lake consists of two distinct basins; the southern section comprises a shallow limb separated from the deeper northern section by an old and broken stone causeway. The maximum depth of 11 m occurs in the northern basin in a localised hollow. Discrete drainage to the lake is by three small inflows and it is drained to the south-east by a small stream which flows to the Mawddach estuary. At some stage in the past a wooden weir (now derelict) was constructed at the outflow, presumably to raise the level of the southern section of the lake. Some data are managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Loch Grannoch is a large (surface area 111.4 ha), elongated lake which lies at 214 m altitude. Small streams feed the loch along its eastern and western shores, the principal of which is the Cuttimore Burn. It drains to the north into the River Dee via the Pullaugh Burn. The loch bathymetry was first surveyed by Murray and Pullar in 1910 and was updated by a subsequent survey by the Palaeoecology Research Unit of University College London. The major basin is offset to the south of the loch and reaches a maximum depth of 20.5 m. Some data are managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Burnmoor Tarn is the largest 'tarn' in the English Lake District. It occupies 23.9 ha and lies at an altitude of 253 m in a moraine hollow on the uplands between Wastwater and Eskdale. The lake has two distinct basins close to the south-eastern shore and a maximum depth of 13 m. There are four main inflow streams to the north and north-west. The outflow at the eastern end joins the Hardrigg Beck which drains the slopes of Scafell and, in times of especially high flow, is partly diverted into the lake across a braided delta. Some data are managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment.

Studies on ecological successions have a long tradition and strongly contributed to the understanding of community assembly, niche theory and ecosystem structure and functionality. Reports on ecological successions are however mostly restricted to one or two taxonomical groups, neglecting the mutual influences and dependencies between multiple taxonomic groups that are the building blocks of multidiverse communities. We introduce the Alpine research platform Ödenwinkel to promote observational and experimental research on the emergence of multidiversity and ecosystem complexity. We established n = 140 permanent plots along the successional gradient of the forefield of the Ödenwinkelkees glacier at the end of Stubachvalley in the Hohe Tauern range (National Park Hohe Tauern, Land Salzburg, Austria). In summer 2019 we completed a first full inventory of biotic and abiotic characteristics of these plots covering the diversity and composition of vascular plants, bryophytes, arthropods and other animals, bacteria and fungi as well as some geomorphologic properties. In this paper we introduce the design of the research platform and show first results on the diversity and composition of vascular plants along the successional gradient. The Ödenwinkel platform will be available as long-term ecological research site where researchers from various disciplines can contribute to accumulate knowledge on ecological successions and on how interactions between various taxonomical groups structure ecological complexity in this alpine environment.