New Italian data on the distribution of Annex I Habitats are reported in this contribution. Specifically, 8 new occurrences in Natura 2000 sites are presented and 27 new cells are added in the EEA 10 ...km × 10 km reference grid. The new data refer to the Italian administrative regions of Apulia, Campania, Calabria, Lazio, Tuscany, Umbria, Sardinia, and Sicily.
In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records and status changes from casual to naturalized for Italy or for ...Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as supplementary material.
In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for ...Italian administrative regions of taxa in the genera
Acalypha
,
Acer
,
Canna
,
Cardamine
,
Cedrus
,
Chlorophytum
,
Citrus
,
Cyperus
,
Epilobium
,
Eucalyptus
,
Euphorbia
,
Gamochaeta
,
Hesperocyparis
,
Heteranthera
,
Lemna
,
Ligustrum
,
Lycium
,
Nassella
,
Nothoscordum
,
Oenothera
,
Osteospermum
,
Paspalum
,
Pontederia
,
Romulea
,
Rudbeckia
,
Salvia
,
Sesbania
,
Setaria
,
Sicyos
,
Styphnolobium
,
Symphyotrichum
, and
Tradescantia
. Nomenclature and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrigenda are provided as supplementary material.
The interest in knowledge of the weed communities of arable land is growing worldwide. Italy is one of the countries in Europe that is the most biodiverse, geographically and environmentally ...heterogeneous, and rich in arable weed species. Thus, in this study, the geo-environmental factors influencing the floristic composition, the species richness, and the Shannon diversity of weed communities of Italian winter arable crops were investigated along a gradient across mainland Italy. Original data were collected in the spring of 2018 in 106 winter cereal and legume arable fields from one fixed area plot per field. Environmental and geographic data were retrieved for each plot, including latitude, longitude, elevation, soil texture, soil pH, continentality, temperature, and precipitation. The effect of crop type was also tested. Latitude was the main driver of floristic differentiation between the studied plant communities, followed by precipitation, temperature, continentality, elevation, and longitude. Soil features and crop type had no significant effects. Higher values of species richness and Shannon diversity were found in southern areas and at higher elevations. Significant explanatory variables accounted for 11.55% of the total variation in species composition of the surveyed communities. The results are discussed and compared with those of similar studies in other Eurasian countries.
The changes of agriculture led to deep transformations of arable plant diversity. The features of arable plant communities are determined by many anthropic, environmental, and geographic drivers. ...Understanding the relative importance of such drivers is essential for conservation and restoration purposes. In this work, we assessed the effects of agronomic, climatic, geographic, and landscape features on α-diversity, β-diversity, and composition of winter arable plant communities across continental Italy, a European hotspot of arable plant diversity. Using redundancy analysis and variation partitioning, we observe that the selected groups of variables explained a restrained to moderate proportion of the variation in diversity and composition, depending on the response (5.5–23.5%). We confirm previous evidence that climate and geographic location stand out in determining the features of arable plant communities in the country, followed by the type of rural area. The surrounding landscape has a subordinate influence but affects both α and β-diversity. The α-diversity is higher in traditional agricultural areas and in landscapes rich in woody vegetation, while it is lower in warmer areas. Species composition is determined by climate, latitude, and the type of rural area, but not by landscape. Total β-diversity is mainly explained by climate and latitude, and subordinately by the agricultural context and landscape. Its components are explained by latitude and climate (replacement) and agricultural context and climate (richness difference). The local contribution to β-diversity of single sites suggested a good conservation status of the studied communities. We discuss the implications of our findings in the light of conservation and restoration of vanishing arable plant communities.
•The CAP method allowed recognizing distinct habitat types inQ. suberwoodlands.•Compositional data alone may be insufficient to monitor complex forest habitats.•Structural data can be used as a proxy ...to assess the CS of cork oak woods.•The CAP method is crucial for the conservation management of Habitat 9330.•The CAP method could be included in the guidelines for EU Habitats monitoring.
In the European Union (EU), there is an urgent need to define a specific and standardized monitoring strategy for Habitat Directive (HD) forest habitats, like Quercus suber woodlands (EU habitat 9330). Such forests are an important component of western Mediterranean landscapes. In Italy, they are undergoing a relevant regression due to the decline of traditional management. Here, we tested the effectiveness of the Cumulative Abundance Profile (CAP) method in assessing the conservation status (CS) of habitat 9330 in central Italy. The CAP method compares plant communities based on their structure and species composition. Our aims were: i) to test the effectiveness of structure and species composition of the tree layer as predictors of different understories and forest habitat types; ii) to compare the results obtained using the CAP method with those deriving from traditional cover-based (CB) vegetation classification; iii) to evaluate the advantages and limitations of using the two methods to assess the CS of EU forest habitats.
The similarity between 48 sampling plots was assessed analysing data through the Fuzzy C-Means clustering method. The three groups resulting from the analysis of CAP data corresponded to as many different community types, each highlighting a different CS of the habitat 9330. For the CAP-based groups, the Mantel test showed a significant correlation between the overstory and the understory composition. Besides, the indicator species analysis detected significantly distinct understories in the three groups, and hypsometric curves suggested that each one is related to soils with different fertility. The CB classification (cover data of all species) produced three clusters, too. However, according to the Adjusted Rand index, the agreement between the two classifications was low. When woods have a higher compositional and structural diversity, in CB classification many plots remain unexplained from an ecological, floristic, and conservation point of view. Compositional data, even if essential, resulted insufficient to classify and monitor the CS of highly structurally complex forest habitats. This highlights that the role of structural data in the classification and monitoring of HD forests is underrated, since they resulted to be an important proxy for forest monitoring and management. The CAP procedure could thus represent a viable standardized methodology to assess the CS of forest habitats, together with the analysis of the understory composition. Further studies applying the CAP method in other woody habitats might support the inclusion of this methodology in the guidelines for EU Habitats monitoring.
Changes in agricultural practices represent one of the main 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.
Soil microbiota is a crucial component of agroecosystem biodiversity, enhancing plant growth and providing important services in agriculture. However, its characterization is demanding and relatively ...expensive. In this study, we evaluated whether arable plant communities can be used as a surrogate of bacterial and fungal communities of the rhizosphere of Elephant Garlic (Allium ampeloprasum L.), a traditional crop plant of central Italy. We sampled plant, bacterial, and fungal communities, i.e., the groups of such organisms co-existing in space and time, in 24 plots located in eight fields and four farms. At the plot level, no correlations in species richness emerged, while the composition of plant communities was correlated with that of both bacterial and fungal communities. As regards plants and bacteria, such correlation was mainly driven by similar responses to geographic and environmental factors, while fungal communities seemed to be correlated in species composition with both plants and bacteria due to biotic interactions. All the correlations in species composition were unaffected by the number of fertilizer and herbicide applications, i.e., agricultural intensity. Besides correlations, we detected a predictive relationship of plant community composition towards fungal community composition. Our results highlight the potential of arable plant communities to be used as a surrogate of crop rhizosphere microbial communities in agroecosystems.
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•Indicators for crop rhizosphere microbiota are needed.•Arable plants were not surrogates of microbial species richness.•Arable plants were surrogates of microbial species composition.•Arable plants were predictive of fungal species composition.
Using 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.
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