Towards a digital key to the lichens of Italy

AbstractWork is in progress for the completion of a computer-aided key to all lichens known to occur in Italy, which will be freely available online, and as a free application for mobile devices. A first example, concerning the lichens of Northern Italy (2.339 infrageneric taxa), is already available online for testing. A computer-generated but manually edited dichotomous key is invoked for all species previously filtered via a multi-entry interface, where several selected characters can be specified in a single step. To optimize the two query interfaces, two different datasets are used, one for the dichotomous, the other for the multi-entry interface

On the typification of the lichen genus Lepra Scop.

The first typification of Lepra Scop. by Pertusaria discoidea (Pers.) Malme (= Lepra albescens (Hudson) Hafellner), made in the Paris Code (1956), is shown to be correct after studies of the original material in the Micheli Herbarium in FI. Details of the latter are given. All later statements about this case, even in the Code , are irrelevant.acceptedVersio

An integrated system for producing user-specific keys on demand: an application to Italian lichens

The identification of lichens is important in several applied fields, such as the biological monitoring of air pollution and the restoration of openair stone monuments. This often creates relevant problems for non-specialists and technicians which are in charge of routinely applying lichen monitoring techniques. The coupling of a complex information system (ITALIC), together with a new software which can automatically produce identification keys for any subset of species included in a database (FRIDA), is an innovative approach in the field of identifying biodiversity. ITALIC is able to produce a list of species which potentially occur under a set of ecological and distributional conditions specified by the user. The list is automatically transferred to FRIDA, which generates a user-oriented interactive identification key limited to the species present in the “virtual habitat” created by the user. The new system has relevant applications, since it effectively supports the technical personnel of Environmental Agencies, Nature Parks, Cultural Heritage Conservation Agencies involved in lichen monitoring throughout the Country

Aggregation of Italian Lichen Data in ITALIC 7.0

The creation of a coordinated publishing and aggregation system of biodiversity data is a challenging task, which calls for the adoption of open data standards. ITALIC, the information system on Italian lichens, originated from the conversion of the first Italian checklist into a database. While the first version was “frozen”, the present version is continuously updated and provides access to several other data sources and services, such as ecological indicator values, ecological notes and information, traits, images, digital identification keys, etc. The identification keys especially are an ongoing work that will lead to a complete national flora by 2026. Last year, new services were added, one for aligning lists of names with the national checklist, the other for aggregating occurrence data deriving from the digitization of 13 Italian herbaria, forming a total of ca. 88,000 records, which are distributed under a CC BY license and can be exported as CSV files in the Darwin Core format. An aggregator for lichen data will encourage the national community of lichenologists to produce and aggregate further data sets, and it will stimulate data reuse according to the paradigms of open science

Guida alla flora delle Alpi Carniche meridionali (Ampezzo - Sauris)

This book is a guide to the vascular plants occurring in the sector of the southern Carnic Alps (NE Italy) that stretches from Ampezzo to Sauris (Province of Udine), plus the adjoining area in the Province of Belluno which includes M. Bivera, M. Tiarfin and the subalpine meadows around Casera Razzo (1244 infrageneric taxa). The general introduction is followed by an original dichotomous key produced using software FRIDA, illustrated by photographs and ecological-biogeographical notes for all species. The appendix contains some elementary notions of Botany and an index of the scientific names associated with those of the respective families.Il volume è una guida alle piante vascolari sinora note per il settore delle Alpi Carniche meridionali che si estende da Ampezzo alla Conca di Sauris (UD), comprendendo anche un’area in provincia di Belluno che include il M. Bivera, il M. Tiarfin e i pascoli subalpini nei dintorni di Casera Razzo (1244 tra specie e sottospecie). L’introduzione generale è seguita da una chiave dicotomica originale, prodotta utilizzando il programma FRIDA, illustrata da fotografie e note ecologico-biogeografiche per tutte le specie. L’appendice contiene alcune nozioni di botanica elementare e l’indice dei nomi scientifici delle piante associati a quelli delle rispettive famiglie

I licheni epifiti del Parco Naturale di Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino

Da molti anni, nel Parco di Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino sono in corso ricerche sui licheni che hanno permesso di realizzare un inventario delle specie e di apportare contributi originali alle conoscenze sulla loro ecologia. Il Parco di Paneveggio ha una missione molto importante nella conservazione dei licheni: nel suo territorio ne sono noti quasi 650, pari al 50% dei licheni del Trentino-Alto Adige, che è la regione italiana con il maggior numero di specie note. Tuttavia, una stima realistica della biodiversità lichenica del Parco potrebbe essere di circa 900 specie! Il Parco ha commissionato al Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita dell'Università di Trieste la realizzazione di una guida interattiva ai licheni epifiti, che al momento include 242 specie e che è consultabile in rete dal sito del Parco o da quello del progetto Dryades (www.dryades.eu). L'identificazione dei macrolicheni (licheni fruticosi, fogliosi e squamulosi) può essere effettuata anche senza l'uso del microscopio,ed è quindi più facile. Al contrario, per l'identificazione dei licheni crostosi è spesso indispensabile osservare caratteri anatomici al microscopio, soprattuto quelli relativi alle spore

Catalogo critico dei licheni dell’Emilia-Romagna

Il presente catalogo dei licheni sinora noti per l’Emilia-Romagna si basa sull’informazione reperibile nella letteratura pubblicata fino all’anno 2016 e sistematizzata in un database di oltre 6300 record a cui sono associati metadati utili per delineare la distribuzione e l’ecologia delle specie. In alcuni casi restano aperti problemi di sinonimia e di incongruenza con precedenti cataloghi redatti a scala nazionale. Per evitarne la dispersione, questi record problematici vengono riportati in tre distinte appendici. Nel complesso, il catalogo si basa su un totale di poco più di 5900 record che documentano la presenza sul territorio regionale di 795 taxa infragenerici. Il lavoro da un lato conferma un quadro di relativa carenza di conoscenze lichenologiche n questa Regione, dall’altro potrà verosimilmente costituire un punto di riferimento e stimolo per nuove indagini

A search tool for the digital biodiversity resources of KeyToNature

The European KeyToNature project has created a framework to gather large amounts of biodiversity-related digital data and metadata from cooperating providers and to make them publicly available via an advanced search engine tool. The novelty of the solution consists in the creation of specific queries for the search web service in the KeyToNature digital repository, in the implementation of a communication protocol between the client application and the repository server, and in other original solutions for metadata presentation

Modifiable digital identification keys

The Open Key Editor (OKE) is a tool for editing and enriching existing identification keys and to produce localized ‘minikeys’ that apply to local flora and fauna, such as in parks, nature reserves and school gardens, or keys that apply to a particular season. The minikeys are easier to use than their originals, simply because of the fact that they deal with less species, their language can be adapted to a particular audience (e.g. pupils), and because they always point to species that are known to be present. OKE also allows the inclusion of user-generated content in any minikey (new text, images, hyperlinks etc.). The output of minikeys can be automatically tailored for display on computers, smartphones or PDA’s

The Open Key Player: A new approach for online interaction and user-tracking in identification keys

This paper describes a new approach for creating and using identification keys based on two main components: the Open Key Editor and the Open Key Player, both of which were created within the European project KeyToNature. The Open Key Editor can be used to produce custom identification keys starting from a master key and to add original usergenerated content, while the most important feature of the Open Key Player is the possibility to track relevant user activities into an eLearning environment, in order to collect data to improve the design and usability of identification keys