Helianthemum jonium (Cistaceae), nova vrsta u istočnom Jadranu

The occurrence of Helianthemum jonium Lacaita & Grosser ex Bég. in Fiori & Bég. (Cistacaeae) is reported and documented here for the first time in Croatia and Montenegro, and it is confirmed in the Albanian flora after 80 years. The species grows on sandy soils within maquis and garrigue communities in four Adriatic islands: Vis, Biševo, Hvar and Lopud, and within psammophilous vegetation near Ulcinj in Montenegro and in Hamallaj, north of Durrës in Albania. The morphological relationship with the allied H. leptophyllum Dunal and H. apenninum (L.) Mill. is here briefly discussed. Remarks about its taxonomy, lectotypification, habitat and ecology in the Adriatic region are also provided. The species H. jonium was previously known only from the Apennine Peninsula; hence these new eastern Adriatic records extend its distribution area to the east, and it can therefore be considered an amphi-Adriatic endemic element.Prisutnost vrste Helianthemum jonium Lacaita & Grosser ex Bég. in Fiori & Bég. (Cistacaeae) je ovdje po prvi puta zabilježena i dokumentirana u flori Hrvatske i Crne Gore te potvrđena u flori Albanije nakon 80 godina. Vrsta raste na pješčanim tlima unutar vegetacije makije i gariga na četiri jadranska otoka: Vis, Biševo, Hvar i Lopud te unutar psamofilne vegetacije kod Ulcinja u Crnoj Gori i Hamallaju, sjeverno od Drača u Albaniji. Morfološka sličnost sa srodnim vrstama, H. leptophyllum Dunal i H. apenninum (L.) Mill. je ovdje ukratko diskutirana. Također se daju napomene o njezinoj morfologiji, lektotipifikaciji, staništu i ekologiji u Jadranskom području. Vrsta H. jonium prethodno je bila poznata jedino s Apeninskog poluotoka, a nova nalazišta u istočnom Jadranu pridonose istočnom proširenju granice areala vrste te se ista mora smatrati amfi-jadranskim endemičnim elementom

BioNNA: the Biodiversity National Network of Albania

Recently, the Albanian Government started the process to join the European Union. This process also involves matching the EU parameters in protecting its biodiversity. In order to support the Albanian authorities, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Directorate for Development Cooperation (DGCS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) joined efforts in the project “Institutional Support to the Albanian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Water Administration for Sustainable Biodiversity Conservation and Use in Protected Areas”. This project aims at identifying priority needs in safeguarding ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Another project funded by the EU – “Strengthening capacity in National Nature Protection – preparation for Natura 2000 network” – started in 2015 with the aim to raise awareness for assisting local and national Albanian institutions to better exploit the potential of protected areas. One of the main issues encountered during these projects was the need for a national biodiversity data repository. The Biodiversity National Network of Albania (BioNNA) has been created to aggregate occurrence records of plants and animals and aims at becoming the most relevant source of information for biodiversity data as far as Albania is concerned. In this paper, the authors detail structure and data of BioNNA, including the process of data gathering and aggregation, taxonomic coverage, software details and WebGIS development. BioNNA is a milestone on the path towards Albania’s inclusion in the EU and has also a relevant potential social relevance for improving people’s awareness on the importance of biodiversity in the country

European Red List of Trees

The European Red List is a review of the status of European species according to IUCN regional Red Listing guidelines. It identifies those species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level – in order that appropriate conservation action can be taken to improve their status. This publication summarises results for all Europe’s native species of tree (454 species), of which 265 species (over 58%) are endemic to continental Europe, with 56% (252 species) endemic to the 28 EU Member States. Of these, 168 (42%) of the species are threatened with extinction at the European level, however, for 57 species (nearly 13%) there was insufficient information to assign a conservation status, and are therefore classified as Data Deficient, and in need of further research. The main threat to tree species in Europe has been identified as invasive or problematic species, impacting 38% of tree species, followed by deforestation and wood harvesting, and urban development (both affecting 20% of tree species). For threatened species, livestock farming, land abandonment, changes in forest and woodland management, and other ecosystem modifications such as fire are the major threats, impacting the survival of trees.Peer reviewe

Low and high elevation Heliosperma species (Caryophyllaceae) : insight based on chromosome number, pollen characters and seed micromorphology

Miszczak, Szymon, Shuka, Donald, Shuka, Lulëzim, Migdałek, Grzegorz, Słomka, Aneta (2022): Low and high elevation Heliosperma species (Caryophyllaceae)-insight based on chromosome number, pollen characters and seed micromorphology. Phytotaxa 554 (1): 32-46, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.554.1.2, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.554.1.