1,720,999 research outputs found
Indagini tassonomiche su Iberis (Brassicaceae) in Liguria
No full textTramite un approccio di tassonomia integrata, e in particolare confrontando dati morfologici, di nicchia sia climatica sia pedologica, questo studio si pone l’obiettivo di definire le entità appartenenti al genere Iberis presenti in Liguria
Indagini tassonomiche sul genere Iberis in Liguria
No full textQuesto lavoro, nato dal desiderio di identificare campioni controversi di Iberis del Gruppo serpentinitico di Voltri (Genova), intende contribuire a una iniziale verifica tassonomica delle entità presenti in Liguria. Le segnalazioni antiche (Flora d’Italia – Pignatti 1982) riportano la presenza certa in Liguria di quattro specie: I. sempervirens,
I. umbellata, I. pinnata e I. saxatilis, mentre non sono più state ritrovate I. linifolia e I. stricta subsp. leptophylla. Lo studio morfologico effettuato su numerosi campioni raccolti negli ultimi vent’anni ha evidenziato la necessità di nuovi approfondimenti
Will natura 2000 european network of protected areas support conservation of Southwestern Alps endemic flora under future climate?
No full textNetworks of protected areas (PAs) are globally recognized as playing a key role for in situ conservation of species. Despite a high potential for biodiversity conservation, PAs may not mitigate the current biodiversity loss because they do not consider climate change impact. In fact, because PAs have static geographical boundaries, they may hardly keep pace with dynamics in species distribution caused by the climate change, which was not considered when they were designed. In this study, we used species distribution modelling of 85 plant taxa endemic or subendemic to Southwestern Alps to evaluate the effectiveness of PAs network in protecting endemics under future climate change scenarios. PAs cover roughly the 30% of the Southwestern Alps. PAs will harbour more expected distribution range of taxa in the future than today, probably because they occur in high altitude areas rich in endemics that have been climatically stable areas in the past and that will likely remain relatively climatically buffered in the future. Moreover, PAs are distributed to poorly cover expected range of endemics at low and middle elevation, which are threatened by urbanization and climate change. We recommend additional protection at low and middle elevation, considering the future climatic suitability of species
Survey on future distribution of South-Western Alps’ endemic species Gentiana ligustica R.Vilm. & Chopinet
No full textGentiana ligustica is an endemic species of the south-western Alps, protected by European laws, with populations growing under both alpine and mediterranean climates. Their Conservation Status is assessed ad “Good”, with a stable trend for alpine populations; meanwhile, for the Mediterranean populations, their Conservation Status is assessed as “Inadequate”, with an unknown trend due to insufficient studies and a habitat degradation that is still in progress and that can bring about the disappearance of the population to the point of species extinction.
To evaluate the impact of climate change on the species, we projected the potential distributions of G. ligustica under two different RCP scenarios (SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5) for the years 2070-2100 by using two different sets of variables downloaded from the CHELSA database. The first set had five bioclimatic variables, which are considered physiologically important for the species even if they are correlated with each other, and the second set had three uncorrelated variables. Models were run in the R package “biomod2” by using 12 algorithms.
Under both scenarios and by using both sets of bioclimatic variables, the models suggest that the southernmost populations growing under a Mediterranean climate will be strongly negatively affected by climate change, facing extinction due to the loss of habitat suitability. Moreover, the habitat suitability will strongly decrease in the alpine region, shifting in the northern direction toward high-elevation areas, resulting in a high extinction risk for a large part of the alpine populations as well.
This study underlines the need for proactive conservation plans and assisted colonization strategies in suitable areas to preserve Gentiana ligustica in the face of climate change
1158. Silene cordifolia All.
No full textSilene cordifolia is illustrated and discussed. It is a paleoendemic species growing in cliff cracks and boulders on granites and gneiss of the Maritime and Ligurian Alps (NW Italy). In this area the species is one of the main hosts of the Owlet Moth Hadena clara (Noctuide, Lepidoptera). A detailed description of S. cordifolia is provided, including
notes on its cytology and habitat. Despite its narrow distribution and its occurrence in few habitats it has no particular threats, and its conservation status is Least
Concern
Dealing with disjunct populations of vascular plants: implications for assessing the effect of climate change
No full textSpecies distribution models are the most widely used tool to predict species distributions for species conservation and assessment of climate change impact. However, they usually do not consider intraspecific ecological variation exhibited by many species. Overlooking the potential differentiation among groups of populations may lead to misplacing any conservation actions. This issue may be particularly relevant in species in which few populations with potential local adaptation occur, as in species with disjunct populations. Here, we used ecological niche modeling to analyze how the projections of current and future climatically suitable areas of 12 plant species can be affected using the whole taxa occurrences compared to occurrences from geographically disjunct populations. Niche analyses suggest that usually the disjunct group of populations selects the climatic conditions as similar as possible to the other according to climate availability. Integrating intraspecific variability only slightly increases models’ ability to predict species occurrences. However, it results in different predictions of the magnitude of range change. In some species, integrating or not integrating intraspecific variability may lead to opposite trend in projected range change. Our results suggest that integrating intraspecific variability does not strongly improve overall models’ accuracy, but it can result in considerably different conclusions about future range change. Consequently, accounting for intraspecific differentiation may enable the detection of potential local adaptations to new climate and so to design targeted conservation strategies
Demographic structure and reproductive success of Primula allionii, a plant endemic to Maritime Alps
No full textPrimula allionii is a primrose endemic to the Maritime Alps. In order to evaluate its conservation status, we investigated its demographic structure and reproductive success. We studied the plant in three different plots in Roya Valley (France), representing the different structure of cliffs where the plant usually lives. The mean dimensional attributes and the environmental characteristics of areas where plant occurred were evaluated and different size
categories were defined. Plant occurrence appeared non-random, with relatively high density of individuals. We recorded a high rate of seed production and a low morph bias. However, the population remains in a demographic equilibrium and very few seedlings were recorded in the population. The habitat in which the plant lives does not allow a substantial population renewal because of its extreme ecological features (vertical cliff, low soil availability, etc). Although the species is not currently threatened, its slow renovation dynamics, together with the fragmentation of the existing populations, could expose a population to stochastic extinction or sudden declines. Future conservation strategies should aim to facilitate recovery if any such event would occur
Will the European Natura 2000 network of protected areas protect the endemic flora of the south-western Alps from climate change?
No full textAnalysis on the efficience of the protected areas belonginig to the European Natura2000 network for the conservation of endemic plants in a changing world climat
Local refugia and environmental heterogeneity: a case study in a Mediterranean mountain system (Southern Alps)
No full textEndemic species are of pivotal importance in biogeography and conservation biology, because they are exclusively distributed in a given area. The regions where several endemic species occur are called centres of endemism and are expected to be characterised by stable and often singular climatic conditions that have enable divergence to accumulate over time. In particular, four non-mutually exclusive hypotheses have been proposed to explain accumulation of endemics in the centres of endemism. In general, areas rich in endemics are expected to have climates that are unusual in the region, to have low intra-annual climatic variation, to have high topographic heterogeneity resulting in a high array of local climatic conditions or to have been climatically stable over time. However, within these regions, endemics accumulate in given areas that consequently have an exceptional concentration of endemic species. Several studies aimed at identifying areas rich in endemism, but relatively few studies have attempted to analyse the environmental determinants behind this richness. Here, we aim at identifying the determinants of endemism richness within a centre of endemism, the Southwestern European Alps. We used distributional data for the endemic plants of SW Alps to explore the patterns of endemism richness to assess how environmental factors contribute to explain these patterns. Our results suggest that near all hypotheses adequately account for patterns of plant endemics richness in SW Alps. In fact, most of the relationships are statistically significant (Table 2) and the explained variance ranges from weak to substantial. In particular, temperature seasonality, velocity of climate change and the standard deviation of slope have the highest effect. Overall, no macro-ecological hypothesis fully accounts for species richness, suggesting that, within endemism centres, factors related to species dispersal ability (e.g., the rate of climate change and the standard deviation of slope) as well as region-specific historical factors combine to influence the distributional pattern of endemism richness
Differentiation of ecological niches of Campanula sect. Heterophylla in the Southwestern Alps
No full textThe study examines ecological niche differentiation among five Campanula species of the Heterophylla section in the Southwestern Alps. Two main climatic groups were identified, with C. sabatia showing minimal overlap at spatial, climatic, and microenvironmental levels. Conversely, C. stenocodon is at high risk of hybridization with C. cochleariifolia, emphasizing the need for targeted conservation actions to preserve genetic integrity
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