Habitat management and conservation in the Isonzo River Mouth Natural Regional Reserve

La Riserva Naturale Regionale Foce Isonzo, il cui territorio coincide in gran parte con quello del SIC/ZPS 3330004, conduce interventi di conservazione e gestione sui 21 habitat di interesse comunitario, inclusi nell’all.I della DIR CE 92/43, presenti nell’area. Altri habitat non inclusi nella DIR CE 92/43 vengono gestiti in quanto ospitano specie di interesse comunitario, incluse nell’all. II e/o IV della stessa Direttiva, nell’all.I della DIR CE 79/409, nelle Liste Rosse Nazionali e Regionali oppure presenti con un numero di individui considerato di importanza internazionale o nazionale per l’avifauna. Gli interventi di conservazione attuati sono previsti e regolamentati nella Riserva dai propri: Piano di Conservazione e Sviluppo, Piano Faunistico, Regolamento e Piano di gestione degli habitat vegetali. Molti habitat vengono lasciati alla libera evoluzione. Per la loro conservazione viene considerata sufficiente la regolamentazione delle attività antropiche. Altri habitat vengono mantenuti per mezzo di interventi di gestione ordinaria quali: lo sfalcio, il pascolo e la gestione dei livelli idrici nelle aree arginate. Alcune superfici di prati e pascoli in abbandono, ed in via di scomparsa a causa del progressivo arbustamento, sono state ripristinate mediante il taglio e l’asporto della biomassa legnosa ed il riavvio delle attività gestionali necessarie. Diversi interventi di rinaturazione sono stati inoltre eseguiti, in aree precedentemente drenate ed arate a fini agricoli, realizzando nuovi stagni permanenti e temporanei, prati, pascoli e boschi. In seguito a tali interventi, in questi nuovi ambienti, sono attualmente presenti numerosi habitat e numerosissime specie di interesse comunitario.The Isonzo River Mouth Natural Regional Reserve, whose borders coincide very closely with those of the SAC/SPA 3330004, carries out conservation and management actions on 21 habitat of European interest, included in Annex I of the EU Directive 92/43, that are present within its borders. Other habitats are not included in Annex I of the EU Directive 92/43, but they are managed because they host species of European interest, included in Annex II and IV of the same Directive, in Annex I of the European Directive 79/409, in the National and Regional Red Lists, or that are present with numbers of international or national relevance in the case of bird species. The conservation actions that have been carried out are regulated by several Plans that have relevance for the Reserve: Conservation and Development Plan, Faunistic Plan, Reserve Regulations and Vegetation Management Plan. Several habitats are not directly modified by human intervention. Indeed, their conservation is assured simply by regulating human activities. Other habitats are maintained only through ordinary management actions, such as grass cutting, grazing and water level management in the diken areas. Some areas, characterised by abandoned meadows and disappearing due to shrub invasion, have been restored by cutting and removing the wood biomass and by carrying out the subsequent ordinary management actions. Furthermore, several renaturation actions have been carried out in areas that had been dried and used for agriculture. In such areas, permanent and temporary ponds, meadows and woods have been created. Following such actions, in these environments a lot of habitats and species of European interest have appeared

Considerations on dynamic soaring

This paper presents an analytical treatment of dynamic soaring, a behaviour that certain sea birds use to extract energy from wind gradient. Theoretical modeling and results of numerical simulations, based on a two-degrees-of-freedom point mass model, are presented

[Columba livia domestic breed, invasive entity also alien for Italy]

[The Rock Dove (Columba livia) is a polytypic species originally confined to coastal and inland cliffs of western Palaearctic and northern Ethiopian regions and to those of Indian subcontinent. The present distribution is confused by extensions of range through hybridization with feral stock, which have determined its diffusion in geographical areas and environments that are very different and distant from the original ones, with a naturalized distribution now virtually cosmopolitan. Besides a substantial number of domestic breeds reared and maintained in this state, Columba livia is now represented by the original wild populations, generally in decline, and by feral populations, originated from abandoned or escaped domestic individuals. These populations developed above all, but no exclusively, in the cities, starting from the end of the XVIII century, with a further significant increase during the second post-war period, In this work, after having examined and discussed the distribution of the species resulting from the Pleistocene fossil findings and from the historical ornithological literature, we advance the hypothesis that wherever there are free-living populations showing phenotypic, biometric or genetic characteristics different from the wild morphotype, it is legitimate to consider these populations as an alien complex of domestic origin, to be controlled by culling and, when possible, eradicated. On the side-lines of this work, the Authors hope for a reconsideration of Italian names of this species.] [Article in Italian

Eco-ethological observations on an individual of Egretta gularis within the Nature Reserve of the Isonzo river mouth

A single Eastern Reef Heron subject Egretta gularis, dark form, a taxon rarely observed in Italy, can be observed regularly since the year 2003 within the Isonzo River - Mouth Nature Reserve (Gorizia - Italy). Data collected show that the dark plumage is advantageous in the capture of prey in shaded sites and that it is less attractive and threatening in relation to the other white Little Egrets

Considerations on dynamic soaring

This paper presents an analytical treatment of dynamic soaring, a behaviour that certain sea birds use to extract energy from wind gradient. Theoretical modeling and results of numerical simulations, based on a two-degrees-of-freedom point mass model, are presented

Wintering waterbirds along coastal wetlands of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Veneto (1997-2006)

In the decade 1997-2006 the upper Adriatic coastal wetlands (Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia) hosted relevant wintering waterbird numbers: between 295,567 (1997) up to 517,596 (2005), with an overall trend of increase. In the year 2000 this area held almost one third of total wintering waterbirds throughout Italy. Several species (eg. Great White Egret, Common Teal, Wigeon, Curlew, Dunlin) were close to or above 50% of the national total. During the studied period most species increased or remained stable, albeit with annual fluctuations. Few species only decreased. Although a generally positive trend is evident, mainly due to reduced human disturbance, many problematic aspects remain. In the widely distributed privately owned “valli” (hunting/ fishing ponds in the lagoon), “disturbance” is generally calibrated and massive feeding performed, in order to optimize hunting bags. In such areas the management is addressed in favour of quarry species, with positive (or maybe negative) consequences on the other species. In public areas high levels of “disturbance” (shooting included) contributes keeping waterbirds below capacity