Natural products from fruits of Mediterranean area and plant industrial wastes as a source of health-promoting phytocomplexes

The growing environmental challenges posed by biodiversity loss, overuse of raw materials, emerging seawater contaminants, and soil degradation as a result of climate change and careless human actions, underline the urgency of adopting sustainable ecosystem strategies. In this context, this PhD project was developed, and in particular it focused on: - preserving plant biodiversity through the revalorization of ancient selected Tuscany plum and onion varieties; - the recovery of plant waste biomasses as sources of bioactive phytocomplexes valuable for the development of health products by investigating artichoke and saffron bioresidues, in the perspective of a circular economy model; - emerging seawater contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, by assessing the effect that a short-term exposure of ibuprofen has on the production of specialized metabolites in seagrasses; - soil salinization, a critical challenge for traditional agricultural productivity, by examining the ecological and nutritional roles of halophyte plants, in particular Salicornia species.