Notulae to the Italian native vascular flora: 10

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Artemisia, Chaetonychia, Cirsium, Cynanchum, Genista, Hieracium, Iberis, Melica, Misopates, Myosotis, Thalictrum, Trifolium, Utricularia, Veronica, and Vicia. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrigenda are provided as supplementary material

Notulae to the Italian native vascular flora: 5.

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records and confirmations to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Allium, Arabis, Campanula, Centaurea, Chaerophyllum, Crocus, Dactylis, Dianthus, Festuca, Galanthus, Helianthemum, Lysimachia, Milium, Pteris, and Quercus. Nomenclature and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as supplementary material

New national and regional Annex I Habitat records: from #83 to #101

New Italian data on the distribution of 17 Annex I Habitats are reported in this contribution. Specifically, 11 new occurrences in Natura 2000 sites are presented and 30 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, Sardinia, Sicily and Tuscany

Notulae to the Italian native vascular flora: 6

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations and status changes to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Alchemilla, Arundo, Bupleurum, Clematis, Clinopodium, Cota, Crassula, Cytisus, Euphorbia, Hieracium, Isoëtes, Lamium, Leontodon, Linaria, Lychnis, Middendorfia, Ophrys, Philadelphus, Pinus, Sagina, Sedum, Taeniatherum, Tofieldia, Triticum, Veronica, and Vicia. Nomenclature and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrigenda are provided as supplementary material

Notulae to the Italian native vascular flora: 6

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations and status changes to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Alchemilla, Arundo, Bupleurum, Clematis, Clinopodium, Cota, Crassula, Cytisus, Euphorbia, Hieracium, Isoëtes, Lamium, Leontodon, Linaria, Lychnis, Middendorfia, Ophrys, Philadelphus, Pinus, Sagina, Sedum, Taeniatherum, Tofieldia, Triticum, Veronica, and Vicia. Nomenclature and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrigenda are provided as supplementary material

Alfonso Palanza (1851–1899): a late nineteenth-century Italian botanist and his herbaria

During his years in Naples, Alfonso Palanza (1851–1899) devoted himself to the study of the flora of Abruzzo and Naples and to the arrangement of his “Erbario Generale”. After moving to Apulia, he created the “Flora della Terra di Bari” herbarium. The “Erbario Generale” consists of approximately 7,000 specimens of both Italian and continental European origin, the latter from the mathematician Magnus Gustaf Mittag-Leffler (1846–1927). The “Flora della Terra di Bari” herbarium consists of 3,000 specimens from central Apulia. The excellent state of preservation of the specimens and the unique nature of those within the “Flora della Terra di Bari” herbarium clearly suggest that their floristic, taxonomic and nomenclatural study could provide a detailed picture of the floristic biodiversity of Apulia during the period when they were collected

Long-term impact of wildfire on soil physical, chemical and biological properties within a pine forest

Anthropogenic fires pose a serious threat to many terrestrial ecosystems because they can cause loss of biodiversity and car- bon stocks in the biosphere. Specifically, wildfires impacting natural conservation areas such as European Natura 2000 sites (N2K) are of particular concern. The main study objective was to evaluate the long-term effects of wildfires on the organic layer and some physical, chemical and biological properties of the underlying soil mineral layer, linked to soil quality. Here, we studied two coastal Mediterranean Aleppo pine stands within an N2K site differing for the fires’ years of occurrence, the time between fires (TBF) and the time since last fire (TSLF) throughout 24 years. Furthermore, in each stand, differences in fire frequency (FF) were considered by selecting three sites—double-fire, single-fire and control (unburnt). Our results show the absence of the O-layer in double-fire sites, indicating a loss of this organic carbon (if compared to control) pool of 204 g m −2 in R2F and 139 g m −2 in M2F. Despite this loss being offset by the C org increase in soil mineral layer, the disappearance of O-layer may compromise the ecosystem services provided by soil. In each stand, long-term fire effects were evident at both single-fire and double-fire sites for some chemical as well as biological soil properties and depended on TSLF. Increased rates of nitrogen mineralization and nitrification were found at all burned sites, persisting up to 24 years post-fire. Soil quality indicators data highlighted the recovery handicap of the microbial community within the considered period. Since our outcomes showed wildfires enduring consequences, mainly relating to TSLF and FF, on different organic and mineral soil properties, we advocate employing prompt strategies to mitigate recurring fires

Medium-term effects of wildfire severity on soil physical, chemical and biological properties in Pinus halepensis Mill. woodland (Southern Italy): an opportunity for invasive Acacia saligna colonization?

Wildfire frequency and severity have greatly increased in Mediterranean areas in recent decades affecting eco-systems functioning due to alteration in the above- and below-ground process. This study aimed to investigate how wildfire severity, in the medium-term (2-5 years), impacts soil properties within a Pinus halepensis woodland located in the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) of the Natura 2000 network (IT9130006 -Pinewoods of the Ionian Arch). In 2021, four years after a large wildfire in 2017, the woodland still exhibited fire effects with evidence of low, medium or high burn severity in different sites (named LBS, MBS, HBS, respectively). In addition, we observed an area burnt at medium severity that was invaded by Acacia saligna (MBSA site), a fast-growing, highly invasive, drought-tolerant nitrogen-fixing plant, thus we also examined the combined effect of wildfire and A. saligna on the soil. We compared soil properties across burnt sites with a nearby unburnt site (control). Thickness, weight and organic carbon of litter (L) and fermentation (F) layers were measured, alongside physical, chemical and biological properties in the underlying mineral soil (0-10 cm). Our results show that wildfire destroyed the organic layers and these had not recovered four years after the wildfire (except for L-layer within LBS) with a consequent loss (similar to 2 t C ha(-1)) of this carbon pool. In mineral soil we identified fourfold increases in N mineralization and nitrification rates across all burnt sites, regardless of the burn severity and A. saligna presence, suggesting an alteration of N-cycle processes. On the contrary, total microbial biomass and soil respiration as well as most of the physical and chemical properties of the soil were comparable between the burnt and control soils. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) highlighted that burn severity affected soil variables with lower changes in LBS than in other burnt soils. Also, the HBS soil did not show greater negative impacts compared to MBS sites. This is probably due to the increased post-fire colonization by herbaceous plants in HBS, favoured by the complete destruction of trees. In this case, waiting for natural vegetation recovery can be a valid management option, but periodic monitoring of fire-soil-vegetation interaction mainly to avoid invasive species widespread is advocated

16S rRNA gene sequencing of rectal swab in patients affected by COVID-19.

COronaVIrus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic respiratory infection caused by a new betacoronavirus, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoronaVirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Few data are reported on the gut microbiota in COVID-19 patients. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed to reveal an altered composition of the gut microbiota in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia admitted in intensive care unit (ICU) (i-COVID19), or in infectious disease wards (w-COVID19) as compared to controls (CTRL). i-COVID19 patients showed a decrease of Chao1 index as compared to CTRL and w-COVID19 patients indicating that patients in ICU displayed a lower microbial richness while no change was observed as for Shannon Index. At the phylum level, an increase of Proteobacteria was detected in w-COVID19 patients as compared to CTRL. A decrease of Fusobacteria and Spirochetes has been found, with the latter decreased in i-COVID19 patients as compared to CTRL. Significant changes in gut microbial communities in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia with different disease severity compared to CTRL have been identified. Our preliminary data may provide valuable information and promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of the disease and, when validated in larger cohort, it could facilitate the stratification of patients based on the microbial signature