Fitosociologia 48 (2) 2011

F. Landucci, D. Gigante & R. Venanzoni

Department of Applied Biology, Borgo XX Giugno 74, I-06121 Perugia e-mail: flavia.landucci@gmail.com

Aim of this paper is to apply the Cocktail method, using formal definitions, to a vegetation data set from Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy. Lake Trasimeno is the fourth largest lake of Italy and a highly valuable ecosystem. It is included in the Natura 2000 Network as a Site of Community Importance and a Special Protection Area. In this framework, by applying a new methodology for the Italian scene, the authors intend also to summarize and increase the knowledge about hydrophytic vegetation of this important conservation site. For the vegetation classification, 171 phytosociologic relevés, 147 of which unpublished, were analyzed and assigned to 26 communities from the classes Charetea, Lemnetea and Potametea. Results suggest a great phytocoenotic diversity. Nevertheless this diversity should not be considered as an index of good water quality. It is most likely a result of the trophic conditions of the lake, which are strongly affected by the intense human activities in the surrounding areas, inducing a continuous alteration of the habitats. In fact, all the investigated communities are typical for mesotrophic or eutrophic waters. Some associations are newly reported for Lake Trasimeno, in particular those belonging to the Charetea class.

B. Foggi, V. Cioffi, G. Ferretti, L. Dell’Olmo, D. Viciani, L. Lastrucci

Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica – Laboratori di Botanica, Università degli Studi di Firenze, via La Pira, 4, I-50121 Firenze; bruno.foggi@unifi.it; tel. +390552757371

The vegetation of Giannutri island (Tuscan Archipelago, Grosseto, Italy). The phytosociological study of the vegetation of Giannutri is here presented. On the basis of relevés, 12 plant communities have been identified and illustrated. 4 new syntaxa are described: Centaureo melitensis-Asteriscetum aquatici, Ononido mitissimae-Galietum muralis, Erico multiflorae-Euphorbietum dendroidis, Limonio sommieriani-Senecetum cinerariae subass. carduetosum pycnocephali. Two new names are here formalized: Erico multiflorae-Rosmarinetum officinalis subass. rosmarinetosum officinalis and Limonio sommieriani-Senecetum cinerariae subass. senecetosum cinerariae. Dynamic and spatial contacts between different vegetation types are recognized and illustrated. Two different landscapes can be recognized: the coastal landscape and the hilly landscape. The first one is formed by the mosaic of lithophylous and aerohaline Crithmo-Limonieto sommieriani hyposigmetum, and by the halophylous and nitrophilous communities dominated by Frankenia pulverulenta and/or Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum and Frankenia pulverulenta . The coastal xerophilous-calcicolous maquis series belongs to the Teucrio fruticantis-Junipereto turbinatae sigmetum. On the hills, the landscape is dominated by the thermo-xerophilous series formed by the Cyclamino repandi-Querceto ilicis sigmetum. The presence of habitats deserving conservation according to Habitats Directive 92/43 and following revisions, and in conformity with L.R. 56/2000 and following revisions, is pointed out. For some habitats, the main conservation problems are indicated and some management proposals are suggested. The study of spatial distribution of vegetation types recognized on a physiognomical and phytosociological basis has permitted to distinguish typologies at a scale of 1:5000 and to build up the island vegetation map, which file can be downloaded at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15732686/Carta_VEG_GIANNUTRI.pdf. By the study of the aerial photos of the years 1954, 1968, 1987, 1994 and 2005 the variation of the landscape is here illustrated. The diachronic analysis highlights that the vegetation types with higher biomass have increased their surface while the more simplified ones have tended to vanish in the island.

D. Viciani, D. Albanesi, L. Dell’Olmo & B. Foggi

Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica – Laboratorio di Biologia vegetale, Università degli Studi di Firenze, via La Pira 4, I-50121 Firenze
Contribution to the knowledge of the vegetation of the Gorgona Island (Tuscan Archipelago) (with map at the scale 1:5,000). The results of a vegetation survey carried out on Gorgona Island, the smallest and the northernmost island of the Tuscan Archipelago, are here presented. Vegetation has been described by over 80 phytosociological relevés, which allowed 19 vegetation types to be singled out at various syntaxonomical levels, and to build up the island vegetation map at the scale 1:5,000; the file can be downloaded at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15732686/carta_VEG_GORGONA.pdf. During the survey, the following new syntaxa have been recognised and described: Erico arboreae-Arbutetum Allier & Lacoste 1980 ex Foggi in Foggi & Grigioni 1999 subass. rosmarinetosum officinalis; Euphorbio pineae-Helichrysetum litorei Foggi, Cartei & Pignotti 2008 subass. dittrichiaetosum viscosae; Crithmo maritimi-Limonietum gorgonae; Limonio gorgonae-Senecetum cinerariae. Finally, the presence of habitats deserving conservation according to European Habitat Directives and Tuscan laws is pointed out.

D. Galdenzi, S. Pesaresi, L. Colosi, E. Biondi

Department of Agricolture, Food and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131, Ancona, Italy; email: d.galdenzi@univpm.it

Agriculture is a sector where current efforts for conservation of biodiversity at international and national levels are focussed, according to the requirements of the sustainable policies. Agricultural intensification and concomitant land abandonment in the less favoured areas have impacted strongly on the environment, and consequently, have had worrying effects on biodiversity. In Europe, the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) is a valuable tool for the preservation of biodiversity, while the reformed Common Agricultural Policy provides important instruments towards the direct management of biodiversity. In the future, the reformed Common Agricultural Policy is going to be based on a first “greener” pillar that is more evenly shared, with a second pillar that will focus on competitiveness and innovation, on climate change, and on the environment. Thus the assessment of the quality of agro-ecosystems through the use of the bioindicators that indicate their status becomes a fundamental need for the monitoring of farmlands at the European Community level. This study defines a methodology that provides cartography-based estimations of the quality of agro-ecosystems (using ArcGIS 9.1). This methodology uses information relating to the quality of the soil and the vegetation types in the area under study (here, the Conero Regional Natural Park). The Synvegetation Naturalness Index and the Simpson’s Diversity Index are here combined and integrated, to allow the evaluation and implementation of management decisions based on the values of these indices. These choices must necessarily be compared with the dynamic serial processes, for which a simulation of farmland transformation over time is presented.

P. Minissale¹, A. Santo² & S. Sciandrello¹

¹Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Catania, via A. Longo 19, 93125 Catania, Italia
²Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, via S. Ignazio da Laconi 13, 09123 Cagliari, Italia

The coastal vegetation of the SCI “Capo Murro di Porco, Penisola della Maddalena e Grotta Pellegrino” (Siracusa) – The flora and vegetation of the site of community importance (SCI) “Capo Murro di Porco, Penisola della Maddalena e Grotta Pellegrino” (Siracusa – Southern Sicily) are examined. The area at issue is characterized by the occurrence of several plant communities, mainly represented by phanerophytic coenosis (Oleo-Ceratonion), chamaephytic thermo-xerophilous coenosis (Cisto-Micromerietea, Helichrysion litorei), hemicryptophytic coenosis (Lygeo-Stipetea), halophilous communities of the coast (Crithmo-Limonietea), communities of the cliffs (Dianthion rupicolae), coenosis of the temporary ponds (Isoeto-Nanojuncetea, Juncion maritimi and Scirpion compacti) and spring-flowering meadows (Stipo-Trachynietea distachyae and Saginetea maritimae). The occurrence of several xerophytes, endemic or quite rare for the Sicilian flora, testifies the importance of this site (Allium lehmannii Lojac., Tillaea vaillantii Willd., Helichrysum conglobatum Viv., Limonium syracusanum Brullo, Lythrum tribracteatum Sprengel, Sarcopoterium spinosum (L.) Spach, Damasonium alisma Mill. subsp. bourgaei (Cosson) Maire, Pulicaria vulgaris Gaertn. var. graeca (Sch.-Bip.) Fiori, Ophrys biancae (Tod.) Macch., Dianthus rupicola Biv. subsp. rupicola.
This site is a coastal biotope of particular botanical interest which still survive today interesting patches of vegetation, disappeared over most of the coast of Eastern Sicily, their protection is therefore a priority.

E.V. Perrino¹, V. Tomaselli², G. Signorile¹, F. Angiulli³ & G. Silletti⁴

¹Museo Orto Botanico, Università degli Studi di Bari, Via E. Orabona 4, 70126 Bari; e-mail: enricoperrino@yahoo.it

²C.N.R. – Istituto di Genetica vegetale, via G. Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari

³Dottore in Scienze Naturali, Via Lepanto 28, 70043 Monopoli (BA)

⁴Corpo Forestale dello Stato, Comando Regionale Puglia, via Lungomare Nazario Sauro 45, 70121 Bari (BA)

A phytosociological study of the cenosis to Crambe hispanica L. in Apulia Region is presented. In this Region, the taxon is reported in a critically endangered (CR) status. Two different areas were investigated: the Gargano, in the north of Apulia, and the south-eastern of Murge, in the central part of the Region. On the Gargano the vegetation to C. hispanica prefers the borders of abandoned olive-groves, where it exploits the action of the mitigating effect of the overlooking Varano Lake and the humidity of northern cold winds loaded of rain. Whereas, on the Murge, in the territory of Martina Franca (province of Taranto), where a new and important population of C. hispanica L. was signaled, the taxon locates itself to the borders of cultivated environments (arable lands), where the conditions of greater summer aridity are compensated by the shadowing of few isolated oak trees and, mainly, from reserves of water that accumulate at the bottom of the small “dry stonewalls” (muretti a secco) and/or of the irregular calcareous heaps, resulting from “stone removing work” (spietramento). The vegetation context in which these communities evolved are, in Gargano area, primarily, the scrub vegetation (macchia) referable to Cyclamino repandi-Paliuretum spinae-christi (Biondi 1999), while, in the area of Murge, they reenter in the Quercus troiana Webb subsp. trojana woods areal. The vegetation riliefs and the peculiar environmental features have allowed to ascribe C. hispanica cenosis to a new association of Hordeion leporini: Crambetum hispanicae ass. nova hoc loco. Some strategic devices for in situ maintenance of the taxon and related ecosystems are suggested.

E. Biondi¹, M. Allegrezza¹ & M. Mentoni²

¹Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali, via Brecce Bianche, 1-60131 Ancona; e.biondi@univpm.it; m.allegrezza@univpm.it

²Geologo libero professionista, P.zza Ciccardini, 5, I-60043 Cerreto d’Esi (AN)

We present here a case study of the application of vegetational and geomorphological analyses as good methodology for the identification of habitats according to Directive 92/43/CEE. ThIS study relates to a biotope known as “Pian delle Melette”, which is included in SICIT5210066 “Media Val Casana (Monti Coscerno-Civitella)”, and it is realised through an integrated geomorphological and phytosociological approach. The results of this study have allowed its high phytocoenotic diversity to be revealed, which distinguishes this small biotope and increases the knowledge of this Site of Community Importance, recognising two habitats of community interest that have not been described in the previous habitat 6510 “Lowland hay meadows (Alopecurus pratensis, Sanguisorba officinalis)” represented by the associations: Ranunculo neapolitani-Arrhenatheretum elatioris subass. ranunculetosum velutini and Centaureo neapolitanae-Arrhenatheretum elatioris ass. nova hoc. loco and the habitat 91LO “Illyrian oak-hornbeam forests (Erythronio-Carpinion)” with Acer pseudoplatanus and Allium ursinum community. The analyses carried out are, moreover, to be considered of fundamental importance in that they identify the dynamic and chain relationships between the various communities that are fundamental elements for the conservation phase of the whole system through informed management, such that it can take into account the patterns of the communities in the area investigated. It is on this basis that it is necessary to plan the conservational management of these habitats and of the entire landscape that these define.

F. M. Raimondo, P. Marino & R. Schicchi

Dipartimento di Biologia ambientale e Biodiversità, Università di Palermo, via Archirafi, 38, Palermo I -90123; e-mail: francesco.raimondo@unipa.it, pasquale.marino@unipa.it, rosario.schicchi@unipa.it

A study of the hydrophyte communities of some small ponds in the beech-wood belt of the higher Nebrodi Mts is presented. A new association of shallow stagnant water bodies, the Utriculario-Potametum natantis, is described. Its biological structure, biogeographical characteristics, syntaxonomic position, phytosociological relationships and dynamic links are discussed.