The Querco-Fagetea class in Sicily: an example of boreal temperate vegetation in the central Mediterranean area

Contributo alla conoscenza della vegetazione forestale dell’Egeo.

Nell'ambito di ricerche fitosociologiche nell'area egea vengono presentati i risultati relativi alle formazioni forestali attualmente osservabili nelle isole dell'Egeo meridionale. Questo tipo di vegetazione è stato in precedenza oggetto di studio da parte di vari autori, fra cui in particolare Krause et al. (1963), Zohary & Orshan (1966), Barbero & Quezel (1980), Costa et al. (1984) e Géhu et al. (1989, 1990, 1992), che hanno esaminato sotto il profilo fitosociologico alcune isole dell'Egeo quali Eubea, Creta, Rodi e Karpatos. Allo scopo di ampliare le conoscenze su quest'area del Mediterraneo, ancora poco nota dal punto di vista vegetazionale, sono state effettuate indagini su numerose is…

The Lygeo-Stipetea class in Sicily

Basing on literature data and unpublished relevés from Sicily, a survey of the syntaxa belonging to the class Lygeo-Stipetea Rivas-Martínez 1978 is presented. This perennial vegetation is characterized by the dominance of big caespitose hemicryptophytes, and it is widely distributed in Sicily from the sea level up to 1500 m a.s.l. The class is represented in Sicily by two orders, floristically and ecologically well differentiated: Lygeo-Stipetalia, including the sole alliance Moricandio-Lygeion exclusively of clayey substrates, and Hyparrhenietalia hirtae, including five alliances (Hyparrhenion hirtae, Avenulo cincinnatae-Ampelodesmion mauritanici, Thero-Brachypodion ramosi, B…

Programmare la selvicoltura in un bosco vetusto all’interno di un cratere secondario del Monte Etna: primi risultati

In questo contributo sono presentati i primi risultati di uno studio multidisciplinare condoto su un lembo di bosco vetusto a quercia congesta (Qercus congesta C. Presl) all’interno di un cratere secondario sulle pendici del cono vulcanico del Monte Etna, il cratere di Monte Egito. L’obietivo generale è migliorare l’eficienza ecosistemica di queste formazioni riconosciute come habitat di interesse comunitario (91AA* - boschi orientali di quercia bianca) tramite una selvicoltura eficiente ed eficace, programmata ed adatata sulla base delle carateristiche peculiari dell’ecosistema forestale, valutandone nel tempo i risultati dopo l’esecuzione degli interventi programmati. È stato adotato un a…

Il supporto della SISV alla realizzazione di un manuale nazionale per il monitoraggio degli habitat della Direttiva 92/43/EEC in Italia

A partire dall’entrata in vigore della Direttiva 92/43/EEC, la sorveglianza dello stato di conservazione degli habitat elencati nell’Allegato I ed il relativo monitoraggio periodico a intervalli di sei anni sono diventati un obbligo per tutti i paesi membri dell’UE, in base a quanto previsto negli Articoli 11 e 17. Nel 2011 è stato pubblicato un documento che fornisce le linee guida di riferimento europee per il monitoraggio di habitat e specie (Evans & Arvela 2011). Su questa base metodologica, la Società Italiana di Scienza della Vegetazione (SISV), avvalendosi di un ampio gruppo di soci esperti, ha avviato un dibattito interno su principi, criteri, parametri e strumenti per il monitoragg…

The SISV support to the implementation of a national manual for monitoring the Habitats of the 92/43/EEC Directive in Italy.

The 4th National Report ex Art. 17 of the 92/43/EEC Directive in Italy (period 2013-2018) will try to fill a number of gaps still affecting the former versions of the Italian Reports, where territorial data were still missing for large parts of the country and the assessment was mostly based on the use of the expert opinion. Similar inconsistencies also emerged in other European countries (State of nature in the EU, EEA 2015). In order to reach this aim, a nationally shared protocol for monitoring the vegetation-based Annex I Habitats is currently under development. The most prominent issues addressed by the ongoing project are: i) fixing standardized, updated and scientifically grounded me…

Towards a checklist of the Italian gypsophilous vascular flora.

The strict relationship between plants and particular types of substrate has long been known to botanists and plant ecologists who have dealt with this issue. The peculiar flora growing on Italian gypsum substrates has been underlined since the nineteenth century (1, 2, 3). The concept of plant gypsophily can be defined as the exclusiveness or marked preference for living on gypsum outcropping rocks. Thus, only those plant species which show preference, or even exclusivity, for gypsum substrates, should be classified as gypsophilous (4). The main aim of this research has been to provide a checklist of the Italian gypsophilous flora. The study was made possible through international collabor…

The Lygeo-Stipetea class in Sicily

First overview on the 4th Annex I Habitats Report in Italy: methods, criticality, results and future prospects

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A survey of the weedy communities of Sicily

As Sicily has been a central crossroads of human activity for thousands of years, it offers a major perspective on the Mediterranean weedy plant communities. This syntaxonomical survey of the Sicilian weedy vegetation groups together for the first time 30 plant associations, that have been described from the main and neighboring island in the last three decades. The surveyed vegetation is ascribed to the classes Papaveretea rhoeadis and Stellarietea mediae, whose floristic autonomy is here discussed, and to the orders Aperetalia spicae-venti and Papaveretalia rhoeadis for the former, Polygono-Chenopodietalia polispermi, Solano-Polygonetalia convolvuli, Thero-Brometalia and Urtico-Scrophular…

Syntaxonomic survey of the class Pegano-Salsoletea in Italy

After a general outline on the syntaxonomical framework of the class Pegano harmalae-Salsoletea vermiculatae Br.-Bl. & O. Bolos 1958, the occurrence of this vegetation in the Italian territory is examined. In Italy, this vegetation is mostly found on clayish or marly substrata, particularly if slightly enriched with nitrates and chlorides. With reference to the Rivas-Martı´nez bioclimatic classification, the Italian stands have an infra- to thermo-Mediterranean thermotype (marginally up to the meso- Mediterranean one) with dry or arid ombrotype. In particular, this vegetation is well represented in Sicily, while in Sardinia and along the Italian Peninsula, it progressively becomes more rare…

An overview of the Italian forest biodiversity and its conservation level, based on the first outcomes of the 4th Habitat Report ex-Art. 17

In 2019 the 4th Report ex-Art. 17 on the conservation status (CS) of Annex I Habitats of the 92/43/EEC Directive was expected by every EU/28 country, with reference to the period 2013-18. In Italy, the process was in charge to the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), on behalf of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection (MATTM), with the scientific support of the Italian Botanical Society (SBI). A large group of thematic and territorial experts elaborated the available data concerning the 124 types of terrestrial and inland water Habitats present in Italy, 39 of which are represented by Forest Habitats (Group 9),. The main aim of the work was the…

A methodological protocol for Annex I Habitats monitoring: the contribution of Vegetation science.

The methodological foundations of the recently published Manual for Annex I Habitats monitoring in Italy, edited by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) with the scientific support of the Italian Society for Vegetation Science (SISV), are here presented, discussed and related to the most consolidated and acknowledged scientific advances in the field of Vegetation science. The proposed methodologies aim at offering simple, yet effective, protocols and procedures towards a harmonized data collection, by way of standardized and shared technical tools, resulting in comparable evaluations of the conservation status of Annex I Habitats. The methodological framew…

The endemic vascular flora of Peloritani Mountains (NE Sicily): Plant functional traits and phytogeographical relationships in the most isolated and fragmentary micro-plate of the Alpine orogeny

This study is aimed at (1) producing a complete and updated inventory of the endemic vascular flora of Peloritani Mountains, (2) defining the geographical limits of Peloritani, regarded here as a biogeographical district and (3) highlighting possible paleogeographic connections with other Mediterranean lands. The heterogeneity analysis of the endemic flora was performed by means of contingency tables, through the χ2 test. The endemic flora of this area consists of 129 specific and infraspecific taxa, of which 15 are restricted to the Peloritani Mountains. The analysis of habitats revealed that endemic taxa are most abundant on cliffs, rangelands, woods and garrigues. A large number of surve…