Distribution, Ecology and Sociology of the Illyrian Elements in the Province of Belluno and Trent (and belonging Alps), North Italy

Die Bezeichnung "Illyrisches Element" wurde von mehreren Autoren in verschiedenem Sinne benutzt. Eine eindeutige Formulierung dieses Begriffs scheint noch nicht im allgemeinen akzeptiert zu sein. Daher besitzen wir darüber genaue und rezente Informationen, besonders was Slowenien und Friaul-Julisches Venetien betrifft. Die floristische Kartierung dieses Gebietes ist noch im Gange; trotzdem sind wir schon in der Lage, zum ökologischen und soziologischen Verhalten dieses Geoelementes beizutragen. In dieser Hinsicht wurden in einigen Fällen beträchtliche Abweichungen beobachtet. Die betrachteten Arten wurden aus einer Beilage eines Rundbriefes der Universität Ljubljana (1989) entnommen.Sveučilište u Ljubljani izdalo je 1989. godine popis "ilirskih" vrsta koje su rasprostranjene u istočnoalpsko-dinarskome prostom. U ovome je radu prikazana rasprostranjenost i ekologija ilirskih vrsta u pokrajinama Belluno i Trento (na malome i rubnome dijelu istočnoalpsko-dinarskoga prostora). Nakon kratkoga objašnjenja fitogeografske problematike prijelaznoga područja između ilirskoga, srednjoeuropskoga i sredozemnoga prostora, navedene su pojedine vrste, a za svaku od njih iznijeta je rasprostranjenost i ekologija. Na kraju su sve vrste raspoređene u skupine prema sličnoj rasprostranjenosti.In 1989 the University of Ljubljana produced a list of "illyric" species proposing surveys concerning their distribution and ecology in the eastalpine- dinaric region. In the present paper distribution and ecology of these species for the provinces of Belluno and Trento (a small and marginal part of the eastalpine-dinaric region) are presented. After a short explanation of the phytogeographic problems in the transition area between illyric, Central-Euro- pean and Mediterranean areas, the species are reported. For each species distribution and ecological aspects are given. In the last part a classification of the species in groups with similar distribution in the survey area is proposed

Distribution, Ecology and Sociology of the Illyrian Elements in the Province of Belluno and Trent (and belonging Alps), North Italy

Die Bezeichnung "Illyrisches Element" wurde von mehreren Autoren in verschiedenem Sinne benutzt. Eine eindeutige Formulierung dieses Begriffs scheint noch nicht im allgemeinen akzeptiert zu sein. Daher besitzen wir darüber genaue und rezente Informationen, besonders was Slowenien und Friaul-Julisches Venetien betrifft. Die floristische Kartierung dieses Gebietes ist noch im Gange; trotzdem sind wir schon in der Lage, zum ökologischen und soziologischen Verhalten dieses Geoelementes beizutragen. In dieser Hinsicht wurden in einigen Fällen beträchtliche Abweichungen beobachtet. Die betrachteten Arten wurden aus einer Beilage eines Rundbriefes der Universität Ljubljana (1989) entnommen.Sveučilište u Ljubljani izdalo je 1989. godine popis "ilirskih" vrsta koje su rasprostranjene u istočnoalpsko-dinarskome prostom. U ovome je radu prikazana rasprostranjenost i ekologija ilirskih vrsta u pokrajinama Belluno i Trento (na malome i rubnome dijelu istočnoalpsko-dinarskoga prostora). Nakon kratkoga objašnjenja fitogeografske problematike prijelaznoga područja između ilirskoga, srednjoeuropskoga i sredozemnoga prostora, navedene su pojedine vrste, a za svaku od njih iznijeta je rasprostranjenost i ekologija. Na kraju su sve vrste raspoređene u skupine prema sličnoj rasprostranjenosti.In 1989 the University of Ljubljana produced a list of "illyric" species proposing surveys concerning their distribution and ecology in the eastalpine- dinaric region. In the present paper distribution and ecology of these species for the provinces of Belluno and Trento (a small and marginal part of the eastalpine-dinaric region) are presented. After a short explanation of the phytogeographic problems in the transition area between illyric, Central-Euro- pean and Mediterranean areas, the species are reported. For each species distribution and ecological aspects are given. In the last part a classification of the species in groups with similar distribution in the survey area is proposed

Dry grasslands on fluvial terraces of the middle reaches of river Piave in the North East Italy context

Dry grassland vegetation on fluvial terraces along middle reaches of river Piave and river Brenta in Northeastern high Po plain were investigated through a phytosociological approach. Comparisons with ecologically analogous communities described from neighbouring territories lead to the description of a new association belonging to Centaureion dichroanthae alliance: Astragalo onobrychidis-Koelerietum pyramidatae. Residual fragments of Chrysopogon gryllus-dominated grassland on slighly deeper soils are refered to Chamaecytiso hirsuti-Chrysopogonetum grylli

7230 Torbiere basse alcaline.

The Habitat Directive requires Member States to implement surveillance of the conservation status of habitats and species of Community Interest. The aim of this handbook is to outline the methodological instruments for the implementation of a monitoring program of the Italian habitat types, as required by art. 17 of the Habitats Directive, with particular regard to the data collection at site level. The European guidelines (Evans & Arvela, 2011. Assessment and reporting under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive - Explanatory Notes & Guidelines for the period 2007-2012 -Final Draft. European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity, p. 1-123) require the assessments to be carried out by compiling information on specific parameters and at biogeographical scale. Each parameter is considered separately, eventually combining all parameters in an evaluation matrix thus providing the overall assessment. For each habitat type several parameters have to be considered: “Area”, “Range”, “Structure and Functions”, “Future Prospects”. While “Range” and “Future prospects” need to be assessed only at the biogeographical scale, “Area” and “Structure and functions” can be assessed aggregating data collected at the site level; in this handbook, for each habitat of community interest present in Italy, we present monitoring forms for these two parameters. Altogheter, the handbook contains 124 forms, referring to 10 Coastal and Halophytic Habitats; 11 Coastal Sand Dunes and Continental Dunes, 15 Freshwater Habitats, 5 Temperate Heath and Scrub, 11 Sclerophyllous Scrub (matorral), 15 Natural and Semi-natural Grassland Formations, 8 Raised Bogs and Mires and Fens, 10 Rocky Habitats and Caves, 39 Forests. Each monitoring form has been produced with the support of leading national experts and sent to regional authorities for a review. The monitoring forms report the most effective available monitoring techniques for collecting the required parameters and variables, and define operational guidance for data collection. The monitoring forms describe priority variables (e.g. vegetation-plot based analysis) that need to be collected for complying with the Habitat Directive, and also indicate some optional or habitatspecific variables (e.g. substrate condition, water quality, etc.). The activities and methods suggested in this Manual are aimed at enabling the Regions and Autonomous Provinces to implement monitoring activities based on the collection of harmonized data by means of standardized technical protocols. A standardized basis of information is indeed essential for producing comparable data and generating reliable assessments on the conservation status of each habitat type at national level. Some important elements, such as the Favourable Reference Values and optimal thresholds for some of the parameters, are still under discussion at the European level and therefore will need to be further clarified in the near future

Structural and dendrochronological characterization of mountain pine persisten woodlands on the Monti del Sole - Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park

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Habitats Directive in northern Italy: a series of proposals for habitat definition improvement

Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) is the cornerstone of nature conservation in Europe and is at the core of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. There is room, however, for its improvement, at least for northern Italy, where ambiguities in the definition of habitat types of Annex I of the Habitats Directive are not novel and interpretation difficulties have been highlighted. Sharpening the characterization of habitat types represents an opportunity for lowering classification uncertainties and improving conservation success. With the aim to refine the definitions of habitat types and associated typical species of the Habitats Directive, a group of vegetation scientists of the Italian Society of Vegetation Science based in northern Italy made the exercise of finding viable proposals for those habitat types having a problematic interpretation in the Alpine biogeographical region of Italy. Such proposals arise from group discussions among scientists, and professionals, thus offering a shared view. We prepared 9 habitat proposals important for this geographic area. They include new habitat types at the European level, new subtypes within pre-existing habitat types, including some adjustments of the recently proposed subtypes with respect to northern Italy, and recognition of priority criteria for a pre-existing habitat type. With a vision of tailored conservation, our proposals represent a starting point in view of a future update of Annex I. Furthermore, the list of typical species could be useful for preparing expert systems for automatic classification. Irrespective of legally binding solutions in place, we caution these proposals represent relevant baseline conservation indications that local and regional administrations of the Alpine Arch should consider

Red Listing plants under full national responsibility: Extinction risk and threats in the vascular flora endemic to Italy

Taxa endemic to a country are key elements for setting national conservation priorities and for driving conservation strategies, since their persistence is entirely dependent on national policy. We applied the IUCN Red List categories to all Italian endemic vascular plants (1340 taxa) to assess their current risk of extinction and to highlight their major threats. Our results revealed that six taxa are already extinct and that 22.4% (300 taxa) are threatened with extinction, while 18.4% (247; especially belonging to apomictic groups) have been categorized as Data Deficient. Italian endemic vascular plants are primarily threatened by natural habitat modification due to agriculture, residential and tourism development. Taxa occurring in coastal areas and lowlands, where anthropogenic impacts and habitat destruction are concentrated, display the greatest population decline and extinction. The national network of protected areas could be considered effective in protecting endemic-rich areas (ERAs) and endemic taxa, but ineffective in protecting narrow endemic-rich areas (NERAs), accordingly changes to the existing network may increase the effectiveness of protection. For the first time in the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot, we present a comprehensive extinction assessment for endemic plants under the full responsibility of a single country. This would provide an important step towards the prioritization and conservation of threatened endemic flora at Italian, European, and Mediterranean level. A successful conservation strategy of the Italian endemic vascular flora should implement the protected area system, solve some taxonomical criticism in poorly known genera, and should rely on monitoring threatened species, and on developing species-specific action plans

Lista bibliografica

Questa lista bibliografica contiene il secondo aggiornamento della bibliografia della Lisy e deriva dall’assemblaggio da parte della redazione (M. Serdoz ed E. Panfili) dei contributi parziali stilati dai gruppi regionali

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 evaluation of the overall CS of each Habitat by Biogeographic Region (Mediterranean, Continental and Alpine), for a total amount of 294 assessments. A high proportion of these (92, corresponding to 31% of the total) referred to Forest Habitats, including 20 marginal types for which the CS was not requested. The analysis was carried out at different scales: a) administrative territory, through the data contained in the ISPRA database, whose compilation was in charge to the Regions and Autonomous Provinces; b) Natura 2000 site, with the latest updates available (Standard Data Forms updated to 2018); c) national scale, implementing the distribution maps for each Habitat based on the European grid ETRS89-LAEA5210 (10x10 km2 mesh); d) Biogeographic Region, scale of the final assessment. Cartographic outcomes, associated databases and additional data used for the assessments will be available online on the ISPRA Portal as soon as the validation process by the European Commission will be completed. A dedicated archive named "HAB_IT" has been created in the national database "VegItaly" (1), managed by the Italian Society of Vegetation Science, where the phytosociological relevés representative of the various Annex I Habitats in Italy will be archived and freely accessible. An overview of the results regarding the Forest habitats is here provided, including a comparison with the outcomes of the former reporting cycle, the 3rd Report ex-Art. 17 (2). In several cases (e.g. 9120, 91L0), the distribution maps have been remarkably improved due to better knowledge and more fitful interpretation. The conservation status resulted as Favourable (FV) for 6,7%, Inadequate (U1) for 58,7% and Bad (U1) for 32,0% of the 72 assessed forest Habitat types. In no case there was an improvement of the conservation status, while in 6 cases a worsening of the conditions resulted from the data analysis, pointing out the Habitats types with a higher need of action. Similarly to other projects carried out as a team by the network of Annex I Habitat experts of the Italian Botanical Society and the Italian Society for Vegetation Science (e.g. 3, 4), this is another step in the direction of supporting the implementation of the 92/43/EEC "Habitat" Directive in Italy and Europe. On this ground, the high biodiversity of the Italian forest Habitats could be emphasized, however results pointed out that some rare or endemic types (e.g. Alnus cordata or Betula aetnensis-dominated forests) are still scarcely acknowledged by the most prominent EU conservation tools such as the Annex I to the "Habitat" Directive. 1) F. Landucci et al. (2012) Plant Biosyst., 146(4), 756-763 2) P. Genovesi et al. (2014) ISPRA, Serie Rapporti, 194/2014 3) E. Biondi et al. (2009) Società Botanica Italiana, MATTM, D.P.N., http://vnr.unipg.it/habitat/ 4) D. Gigante et al. (2016) Plant Sociology, 53(2), 77-8