1,721,058 research outputs found
The anthropogenic grasslands of the Securigero securidacae-Dasypyrion villosi in central Mediterranean areas. Synecology, distribution and syntaxonomy
Full text linkThe anthropogenic therophitic grasslands dominated by tall Poaceae of Italy were recently included in the alliance Securigero securidacae-Dasypyrion villosi (Chenopodietea). Similar vegetation types from Sicily, Sardinia, Albania, and Greece were hypothesized to pertain to this syntaxon. In this work, we performed multivariate analyses on 493 phytosociological relevés certainly or likely ascribable to the alliance, gathering personal unpublished data and those available from literature. Our results confirm that this vegetation type has its core distribution in peninsular Italy, with irradiations in Sardinia and the lower Po Valley. Except for one relevé, similar communities from the Balkans were not includable in the Securigero-Dasypyrion, as well as others from the Italian Peninsula and Sicily. Based on our results, we describe the Mediterranean sub-alliance Securigero securidacae-Dasypyrenion villosi (including six vegetation types) and its Submediterranean vicarious Hordeo murini-Anisanthenion diandrae (including three vegetation types). Three new associations are described
La flora vascolare degli oliveti della Bassa Sabina (Lazio, Italia centrale)
Full text linkL’olivo (Olea europaea L.) è una specie caratteristica degli aspetti più termofili della macchia mediterranea (Oleo-Ceratonion). La sua domesticazione è avvenuta presumibilmente già nel Neolitico, ad opera delle popolazioni del Medio Oriente; da qui, le varietà coltivate sarebbero arrivate prima ai Greci e poi agli Etruschi (Pignatti 2018). Oggi gli oliveti sono tra le coltivazioni più caratteristiche del paesaggio agricolo mediterraneo (Angles 1999); qui risultano spesso inseriti nelle aree agricole ad alto valore naturale tipiche dei territori rurali geomorfologicamente complessi (Fanfarillo et al. 2017a, 2017b). Gli appezzamenti ad olivo, in particolare quelli più antichi e a gestione estensiva, ospitano livelli considerevoli di biodiversità (Perrino, Veronico 2012, Marzano et al. 2013, Fanfarillo et al. 2018), motivo per cui ne è stato proposto l’inserimento tra gli habitat di interesse comunitario ai sensi della Direttiva 92/43/CEE (Biondi et al. 2007).
La Sabina è tra le zone dell’Italia centrale maggiormente vocate all’olivicoltura, in particolare nella parte meridionale, dove sui rilievi carbonatici rivolti verso il Mar Tirreno si configurano condizioni morfo-climatiche ideali per la crescita dell’olivo. L’area coincide con la zona di produzione dell’olio extravergine di oliva DOP “Sabina” (Commissione Europea 1996); in considerazione di ciò, gli oliveti occupano una posizione importante tra le tipologie di uso del suolo. Pertanto, nel corso dei mesi di aprile e maggio 2017 e 2018 è stata effettuata una campagna di rilevamento sulla flora e sulla vegetazione, ad oggi poco conosciute, che colonizzano queste coltivazioni arboree nella Bassa Sabina (prov. Rieti, Lazio); sono stati eseguiti 62 rilievi su plot di area fissa pari a 16 m2, superficie consigliata per il rilevamento delle comunità erbacee europee (Chytrý, Optyková 2003). Le colture indagate sono tutte a gestione tradizionale/estensiva, falciate e/o pascolate e non sottoposte a lavorazione del terreno (Fig. 1).
Complessivamente sono stati censiti 234 taxa di piante vascolari. La famiglia più rappresentata è risultata essere quella delle Fabaceae (36 taxa), seguita da Asteraceae (32) e Poaceae (31). Ben rappresentate sono anche le Brassicaceae, con 13 taxa; le altre famiglie hanno mostrato una consistenza inferiore. Sono state rinvenute tre specie rare nella regione Lazio secondo Anzalone et al. (2010): Glechoma hederacea L., Securigera cretica (L.) Lassen e Sisymbrium irio L.; tra le entità indicate dagli stessi autori come poco comuni nel territorio regionale, sono state censite Equisetum palustre Anemone coronaria L., Anthemis arvensis L. subsp. incrassata (Loisel.) Nyman, Ervum pubescens DC., Gladiolus byzantinus Mill., Ononis viscosa L. subsp. breviflora (DC.) Nyman, Trifolium squarrosum L. e Triticum neglectum (Req. ex Bertol.) Greuter. Alcuni di questi taxa poco diffusi sono stati rinvenuti per la prima volta in Sabina: ad essi si aggiungono l’alloctona casuale Brassica nigra (L.) W.D.J.Koch e il più comune Rhinanthus minor L., per un totale di nove entità di nuova segnalazione nell’area di studio. Di interesse è risultata la presenza di quattro specie di Orchidaceae, sia pur comuni in regione: Ophrys apifera Huds., Orchis italica Poir., Orchis purpurea Huds., e Serapias vomeracea (Burm.f.) Briq. Il contingente di specie alloctone (identificato secondo Galasso et al., 2018 e Bartolucci et al., 2018), si è rivelato estremamente ridotto, essendo costituito da appena 10 specie (2,3% del totale): sei archeofite (Arundo donax L. - l’unica invasiva - Avena fatua L., Avena sterilis L., Brassica nigra (L.) W.D.J.Koch, Galega officinalis L. e Medicago sativa L.) e quattro neofite (Crepis sancta (L.) Bornm. subsp. nemausensis (P.Fourn.) Babc., Erigeron canadensis L., Erigeron sumatrensis Retz., e Veronica persica Poir., le ultime tre invasive nel Lazio).
I rilievi sono stati sottoposti ad un’analisi di classificazione, che ha consentito di individuare tre gruppi dalla composizione floristica discretamente differenziata, caratterizzati da livelli decrescenti di disturbo antropico e da crescenti maturità strutturale e mesofilia. In termini strutturali (Fig. 2a) i tre gruppi di rilievi mostrano una graduale diminuzione dell’incidenza di Terofite dal gruppo 1 al gruppo 3, con il conseguente incremento delle specie perenni, ove le Emicriptofite risultano essere le maggiormente rappresentate, seguite dalle Geofite. Gli spettri corologici (Fig. 2b) rivelano una generale predominanza delle specie a distribuzione Eurimediterranea, evidenziando poche differenze tra i tre aspetti; a questo fa eccezione il contingente Cosmopolita, che risulta essere di gran lunga maggiore nel gruppo 1 rispetto ai gruppi 2 e 3, coerentemente con il minore disturbo antropico a cui questi ultimi sono presumibilmente sottoposti.
In conclusione l’indagine ha rivelato la presenza, all’interno dei contesti indagati, di una flora ricca e includente elementi di pregio naturalistico. Tali evidenze danno ulteriore conferma di come l’agricoltura estensiva sia di supporto alla diversità biologica, garantendo il mantenimento di habitat secondari indispensabili per la sopravvivenza di numerose specie vegetali e, di conseguenza, dei taxa animali ad esse legati
The segetal flora of Italy: an occurrence dataset from relevés in winter cereals and allied crop types
Full text linkThe segetal flora of winter crops includes mostly native or archaeophyte annual species that are often strong specialists of their habitats. Threatened by the intensification of agriculture, segetal flora is particularly valuable from a perspective of biodiversity conservation and evolution. Moreover, it contributes to maintain biodiversity in agroecosystems and provides several ecosystem services. The dataset here described was set up to provide the first inventory of the segetal flora of Italian winter cereal crops and allied crop types, the latter including flax and autumn-sown legumes. It includes 24,676 georeferenced occurrence data deriving from 1,240 floristic and phytosociological relevés. The data were collected from the greater part of Italian territory, in a temporal range spanning from 1946 to 2018
Development of a new GIS-based method to detect high natural value farmlands. A case study in central Italy
Full text linkAn original method for the identification of High Natural Value farmlands is presented. Gathering information about land use (CORINE Land Cover), geomorphology (elevation and Terrain Ruggedness Index) and remote sensing data in a GIS environment we were able to develop a new detection process; its application to a wide sector of central Italy, in areas characterized by high biodiversity and relevant agronomic and cultural value, is presented. Thus, a new tool for diminishing sampling efforts and economic and time wastes in territorial studies is provided
Shifts of arable plant communities after agricultural intensification. A floristic and ecological diachronic analysis in maize fields of Latium (central Italy)
No full textChanges in agricultural practices represent one of themain causes of shift in species composition of arable plant communities. In particular, the intensification of agriculture going on worldwide since several decades led to heavy transformations of arable plant diversity. Basing on a study conducted in 1964 in Latium (central Italy), we re-surveyed the arable plant communities of 21 maize fields in order to assess the shifts that occurred over 50 years. The results showed a relevant decrease in the number of species (both in the total number and in the mean number per relevé), accompanied by a major species turnover. An increase in neophyte, wide-distribution, geophyte, C4 photosynthetic pathway, and monocot species was observed, while the incidence of insect-pollinated taxa decreased. The calculation of the mean Ellenberg indicator values per relevé showed an increase, in particular, of nutrients and moisture levels
Evaluating and mapping naturalness of agricultural areas. A case study in central Italy
No full textAn assessment of the natural value of some extensively managed agroecosystems in Latium region (central Italy) has been made, through the collection of floristic and phytosociological data and the development of new indices (Floristic Naturalness Index – FNI and a set of synthetic indices). The survey allowed the evaluation of the study areas as High Natural Value Farmland areas. In a GIS environment, a mapping of the naturalness levels was then carried out
Summer roadside vegetation dominated by Sorghum halepense in peninsular Italy: survey and classification
Full text linkSorghum halepense is a synanthropic tall grass distributed worldwide from tropical to temperate zones, and it is often considered an invasive alien. It is a perennial, rhizomatous plant that tends to form dense stands derived from vegetative and sexual propagation. Despite roadside plant communities dominated by Sorghum halepense are very common in southern Europe, their phytosociological aspects are scarcely studied. In this work, we present the results of a vegetation survey in peninsular Italy, carried out by means of the phytosociological method. In total, we carried out 73 releves in Liguria, Tuscany, Latium, Campania, Basilicata, and Apulia. We statistically compared our releves to those from the Balkans classified in the Cynodonto-Sorghetum halepensis, an association of agricultural annual weed vegetation of the class Stellarietea mediae s.l. used in the past as a reference for Italian S. halepense-dominated communities. Our results show that the Italian communities are different from the Cynodonto-Sorghetum halepensis communities, since the latter are rich in annual species, while the former are rich in perennial species. From the syntaxonomic point of view, the Italian communities are better classified in the class Artemisietea vulgaris. We describe the new (sub-)ruderal association Potentillo reptantis-Sorghetum halepensis, including a meso-hygrophilous variant with Urtica dioica and an agricultural variant with Elymus repens. We have evidence that the Potentillo-Sorghetum occurs in Italy, Kosovo and Slovenia, but its distribution is possibly wider due to conspicuous presence of cosmopolitan species characterizing the association. Our work provides a baseline for the knowledge of an alien-dominated plant community that can invade habitats with high conservation value
Differential effects of increasing temperature on the germination of five wild species with varying range sizes in a Carrara marble quarry
Full text linkAssessing the performance of spontaneous plants in abandoned quarries under future environmental scenarios is important for successful restoration practices. Air warming is one of the most relevant ongoing climatic changes in the Mediterranean. We tested the effects of increasing temperature on the germination of five species spontaneously colonising the abandoned sectors of a Carrara marble quarry (Tuscany, central Italy). We selected five plant species with different widths of their distribution range, from local endemic to invasive alien: Santolina pinnata, Globularia incanescens, Hypericum coris, Helichrysum italicum, and Buddleja davidii. Seeds were collected in situ and their germination was tested in laboratory conditions at 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30°C. The effects of temperature and species on germination percentage (GP) and mean germination time (MGT) were tested through two-way ANOVA. Increasing temperatures negatively affected the GP of S. pinnata and H. coris. G. incanescens performed better at intermediate temperatures, while H. italicum benefited from increasing temperatures. B. davidii showed a similar high GP under all the treatments. MGT decreased with increasing temperature for all the species, except for S. pinnata, which showed an increase of MGT with increasing temperature. We highlighted that, under future warmer climatic conditions, the two endemic species will be disadvantaged with respect to the species with a wider distribution range and the non-native species in the studied quarry. This evidence is relevant for restoration planning since seeding the two endemic species could be unsuccessful under future environmental scenarios, when H. italicum and B. davidii will be more competitive in the colonisation of the quarry
Vegetation and Annex I habitats of a suburban river in southern Tuscany (central Italy): remnants of plant diversity or need for restoration?
Full text linkUsing vegetation as a bioindicator in urban and degraded areas is an effective way to assess the status of the environment. In this work, we present the results of a phytosociological investigation of a suburban river and of its surroundings in southern Tuscany (Bestina river and its tributary Bestinino in Asciano, Province of Siena). By means of 94 phytosociological relevés, we identified 34 plant communities belonging to the 17 classes. Six habitats included in the 92/43/EEC Directive, plus two habitats recently proposed for inclusion, were identified, as well as one habitat of regional interest. The study revealed that, despite the high levels of human disturbance, aquatic and herbaceous riparian vegetation is still well-preserved, though mostly represented by stress-tolerant communities. On the contrary, most of the vegetation types not being directly linked to the river dynamic are in poor conservation status. Despite this, some habitats of community interest were detected even in non-riverine sites. Our work provides the basic knowledge for future restoration of the Bestina river and of its surroundings, wished by the Tuscany Region
Woody flora distribution patterns along a longitudinal transect in central Italy: a trait based analysis.
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