Fitosociologia 41 (2) 2004

R. Di Pietro¹, S. Proietti¹, P. Fortini² & C. Blasi¹

¹ Dip. di Biologia vegetale, Università degli Studi “La Sapienza”, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Roma; e-mail: romeo.dipietro@uniroma1.it
² Dip. di Scienze e Tecnologie dell’Ambiente e del Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, Via Mazzini 8, I-86170 Isernia

Scree vegetation of the south-eastern zones of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park. This paper is a contribute to the coenological and sintaxonomical knowledge of Abruzzo National Park scree vegetation. The study area coincides with the limestone mountainous chains of Serra Rocca Chiarano and Serra Le Gravare which are located in the eastern zone of the National Park. The vegetation has been investigated through the Braun-Blanquet phytosociological approach. The vegetational data have arranged in a binary matrix and further treated with multivariate analysis procedures. Different micro-geomorphological sectors and consequently different ecological conditions can be distinguished into the “scree” system. Each microgeomorphological sector is characterized by a particular interaction of physical parameters such as altitude, aspect, slope, clasts stability and dimension.
The location of the various plant community type along the talus slope seems to be related to different gradients of stability which work both horizontally and vertically. As a consequence it has been possible to define three dimension ecological diagram in which the entire coenological variability of the investigated environment can be represented. As far as phytosociology is concerned, the following communities have been identified: Cymbalarietum pallidae, Galio magellensis-Festucetum dimorphae, (for which the new sub-association gentianetosum luteae is here proposed) Drypido-Festucetum dimorphae and a new Seslerion apenninae community type named Helictotricho-Stachydetum which is typical of the contact area between the scree base and the plain.

I. Vagge¹  & E. Biondi²

¹ Dipartimento di Produzione Vegetale, Università degli studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, I-20131 Milano; e-mail: ilda.vagge@unimi.it

² Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali e Produzioni vegetali, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I- 60131, Ancona; e-mail: e.biondi@univpm.it 

We present here a study carried out on the forest-edge vegetation of the Northern Apennines that form a part of the alliance Trifolion medii, of the class Trifolio medii-Geranietea sanguinei. Three new associations are described: Phyteumo scorzonerifoliae-Teucrietum scorodoniae, Gentiano asclepiadeae-Geranietum nodosi and Digitalidi luteae-Geranietum nodosi. The first association is found on the Tyrrhenian slopes of the Liguria and Tuscany-Emilia Apennines, which are characterised by a temperate bioclimate. The typical example of the association is represented by the new subassociation phyteumatosum scorzonerifoliae, which is found at altitudes below 700 m at the edges of chestnut and bay oak woods of the Physopermo-Quercetum petraeae association, while the subassociation violetosum rivinianae develops at the edges of acidophilous beech woods of the Luzulo pedemontanae-Fagetum association, and of chestnut woods of the Tuscany Apennines. The association Gentiano asclepiadeae-Geranietum nodosi is found on the Padana slopes of the Liguria and Tuscany-Emilia Apennines at around 1000 m in altitude on arenaceous clay and flysch-like substrata mainly exposed to the north, at the edges of beech woods of the Cardamino heptaphyllae-Fagetum (= Trochiscantho-Fagetum) association. The association Digitalidi luteae-Geranietum nodosi is found on the Padana slopes of the Liguria Apennines at altitudes less than 1000 m, and on the Tyrrhenian slopes of the Tuscany Apennines, on arenaceous and marl-arenaceous substrata. The association develops in contact with turkey oak, chestnut and hornbeam woods that are less acidophilous and more heliophilous and thermophilous with respect to those that come into contact with the edge vegetation of the preceding association.

F. Andreucci

Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali e della Vita, Università del Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogadro”, via Bellini 25/G, I – 15100 Alessandria; e-mail: flora.andreucci@unipmn.it

The halophile vegetation of the Orbetello Lagoon (Tuscany, Grosseto). This study describes the alophile vegetation of the Orbetello Lagoon (Tuscany, central Thyrrhenian district, Italy) carried out by the phytosociologic method. Seventeen plant associations have been identified, belonging to the following classes: Cakiletea maritimae, Saginetea maritimae, Juncetea maritimi, Sarcocornietea fruticosae, Thero-Salicornietea. The dendrogram of the vegetation and the scattergrams of the perennial and iperhaline associations obtained with the cluster analysis are shown. The syntaxonomic scheme of the different vegetational units observed and some transects of their distribution, which describe the catenal relations between the different coenosis and their distribution within salinity and flooding, are presented.

G. Bonanomi¹ & M. Allegrezza²

¹ Dipartimento di Energetica, Facoltà di Agraria, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona; e-mail:giulianobonanomi@hotmail.com
² Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali e delle Produzioni Vegetali, Facoltà di Agraria, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona; e-mail: m.allegrezza@univpm.it

Effects of Brachypodium rupestre (Host) Roemer et Schultes colonization on plant communities biodiversity in central Apennine. The impact of Brachypodium rupestre colonization on grassland communities in different sites of the central Apennines was analyzed by phytosociological and ecophysiological methods. Study areas were localized at the supratemperate and mesotemperate bioclimatic belts, on limestone, marly-limestone and marly-sandy substrata. The authors observed a significant spatio-temporal reduction of number of species in Bromus erectus grasslands and Agropyron repens old-fields due to the Brachypodium rupestre colonization process. Its propagation patterns and the impacts on plant communities biodiversity are similar in the investigated areas, indipendently from the substrata type and the bioclimatic belt.