Human-derived landscape changes on the northern Etruria coast (western Italy) between Roman times and the late Middle Ages

Anthracological analysis has been carried out in three sites located on the Tyrrhenian coast of central Italy (ancient northern Etruria: the castle of Donoratico, the town of Populonia and the port of Alberese), spanning between the Roman Republican Period and the Late Middle Ages (3rd century BC???13th century AD). The integrated comparison of three different local charcoal data with the regional pollen and microcharcoal data available from northern Etruria showed well that vegetation changes are completely independent of climate and strictly connected to economic and social dynamics characterising the history of this part of central Italy. Indeed, Quercus ilex forests progressively retracted from the 3rd century BC in favour of open macchia formations just during the growing human impact of the Romanisation when intensive agriculture and livestock grazing characterised the economic system. The transition from macchia to deciduous Quercus forest at the end of the Roman Period from the mid-4th to the mid-5th centuries AD and long lasting until the 9th???10th centuries AD was related to economic and cultural factors which led to a phase of land abandonment. Finally, between the 11th and 13th centuries AD, the vegetation cover shifted again towards an open macchia environment at the same time of a re-settlement phase well evidenced also by intensive orcharding. Charcoal data also showed that the expansion of olive and chestnut in central Italy only began in the Late Medieval Period (11th century AD) and not in the Roman Period. This means that extensive cultivation of chestnut and olive has very recent origins and should be attributed to one and the same macro-factor such as the set-up of the economic establishment of the feudal system and the later political organism of the Medieval town

Foredune psammophilous communities and coastal erosion in a stretch of the Ligurian sea (Tuscany, Italy)

Italy sandy coasts are characterised by a great diversity of habitats and, at the same time, many of these coastal stretches are in erosive condition. Therefore, it is important to understand, in areas where marine erosion is particularly strong, which are the most vulnerable and most threatened habitats. The paper sets out data from the survey of foredune habitats (annual vegetation of drift lines, embryonic dunes, mediterranean white dunes, sensu Directive 92/43/EEC) in the San Rossore Estate sandy coast (Northern Tuscany, Italy) strongly subjected to erosion. The surveys, in addition to updating the information collected, aim to point out the arrangement of these habitats in relation to coastal retrogradation and foredune erosion, in order to identify appropriate management tools for mitigating disturbance factors. The surveys, conducted in the field and by photo-interpretation, revealed the presence of foredune plant communities hardly referable, from the phytosociological point of view, to known associations of neighboring coasts. The Cakile maritima plant communities of annual vegetation of drift lines, the Elymus farctus/ Othantus maritimus phytocoenosis of embryonic dune and the Ammophila arenaria/Euphorbia paralias communities of white dunes, are markedly altered in their floristic composition; the coverage and distribution of the different plant communities are in a highly differentiated manner according to erosion gradients. The understanding of dynamics of alteration of psammophilous plant communities in relation to coastal erosion may suggest potential aid in the management actions aimed at containing the transformations or and/or useful for the restoration of the same habitats