**5. Conclusions**

A decade after two mass mortality events in 1999 and 2003, the circalittoral community thriving on a vertical cliff has undergone some profound changes. In subsequent years, the TSH (algal turf, sediment and small hydrozoans) percentage cover increased twofold, and the cover and density of the dominant gorgonian population *P. clavata* was reduced by 2/3 and 1/2, respectively, while recruitment increased two and a half times. A tendency of some quadrates to recruit more intensely over time was found. No direct effect of TSH and *P. clavata* percentage cover on recruit and adult colony density resulted.

In 2013 the still surviving population had not recovered its pristine structure, and had only partially restored its canopy. In addition, although it had recovered, the population seemed to have reached a new equilibrium point, whose stability is as yet disturbingly unknown.

**Author Contributions:** Software, formal and statistical analysis: F.E., S.R.S. and M.C.B.; sampling: S.C., R.C., G.S. and A.P.; writing: G.S., M.C.B., S.C., and A.P.; supervision and coordination: G.S., M.C.B. and S.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** M.C. Benedetti was supported by a doctoral fellowship funded by Enzo Liverino s.r.l., Chii Lih Coral Co., Ltd. of Taiwan and the University of Pisa. She was also supported by a post-doctoral fellowship (Luigi e Francesca Brusarosco) funded by the Italian Ecological Socety (S.It.E).

**Data Availability Statement:** The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not available because the authors reserve to carry out supplementary analyses and models.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors would like to thank F. Bulleri (Pisa University) for his supervisor contribution to S. Ruffaldi- Santori Master Degree thesis and A. Cafazzo (Pisa University) for the revision of the English text.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
