I - Executive summary
by Farooq Azam, John Fry, Peter LeB. Williams and Gerhard Herndl, edited by Tom Berman and Frédéric Briand
1. Introduction
2. «Emergence» of microbial food chains
3. Microscale processes
4. Linking microbial diversity and ecosystem function
5. Conclusion

II - Workshop communications

- New approaches to integrating the microbial loop in the functioning of the Mediterranean ecosystem
Farooq Azam

- Metabolically active and non-active bacteria in aquatic environments
Tom Berman, Bina Kaplan, Sara Chava and Yehudit Weiner

- Picoplankton and nanoplankton coupling in the euphotic zone of the Mediterranean Sea
Urania Christaki, Antonia Giannakourou, France Van Wambeke and Gerald Gregori

- Role of sulfate reducing bacteria in the oxidation of organic matter in the marine environment
Yehuda Cohen

- Diversity of bacteria in marine environments
John C. Fry

- Bacterial motility and its implications for nutrient cycling
Hans-Peter Grossart and Farooq Azam

- Marine bacterioplankton diversity and activity
Åke Hagström

- Heterotrophic bacterioplankton: phylogenetic diversity versus functional uniformity ?
Gerhard J. Herndl, Markus Moeseneder, Jesus M. Arrieta and Christian Winter

- Bacterial carbon flux through microbial loop in the middle Adriatic Sea
Nada Krstulovic

- Diversity and role of microbes in the Mediterranean sea: new challenges in microbial ecology and biotechnologies
Philippe Lebaron

- Diversity of picoplankton assemblages in Mediterranean waters
Ramon Massana, Beatriz DÍez, Michael Schauer and Carlos Pedrós-Alió

- Biodiversity of thermophilic bacilli isolated from shallow marine vents of Eolian Islands, Italy
T.L. Maugeri, D. Caccamo and C. Gugliandolo

- Spatial distribution of marine bacterioplankton species and the consequences in the Western Mediterranean
Jarone Pinhassi, Anne Winding, Svend J. Binnerup, Åke Hagström

- Bioremediation of marine pollutants by marine cyanobacterial mats - An interdisciplinary approach
J. Rullkotter, Y. Cohen, and J. Safi

- The central role of protozoa in the marine food chain
Peter. J. le B. Williams

- Experimental study of microbial P-limitation in the Eastern Mediterranean
Tamar Zohary and Richard D. Robarts