Flora and plant communities across a complex network of heavily modified water bodies: geographical patterns, land use and hydrochemical drivers in a temperate overexploited plain

Montanari, Irene; Bernardini, Nicola; Gizzi, Gina; Bolpagni, Rossano; Buldrini, Fabrizio; Campione, Louise; Castellari, Ilenia; Landi, Sara; Spiezia, Luigi; Chiarucci, Alessandro

doi:10.1007/s11355-022-00504-y

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…[44,68], recorded only by Aldrovandi. Currently, the low diversity and abundance of hydro-hygrophytes is mainly related to the heavy human impact and the spreading of invasive species in plain regions [69][70][71].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Botanical memory: five centuries of floristic changes revealed by a Renaissance herbarium (Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1551–1586)

Buldrini,

Alessandrini,

Mossetti

et al. 2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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We analysed the spatially explicit floristic information available in the herbarium of Ulisse Aldrovandi (1551–1586) to track floristic changes in the surroundings of Bologna across five centuries. Aldrovandi's data were compared with the Flora della Provincia di Bologna by Girolamo Cocconi (1883) and the Floristic Database of Emilia-Romagna (1965–2021). We explored potential variations in native range and life forms composition, and habitat affinity of the species in the three floras, also contrasting between native and alien species. Native species, mainly in terms of variations of hydro-hygrophytes, chamaephytes and therophytes, provide clear signals of human disturbance and habitat loss. Signals of climate change are provided by the high-mountain species, that were comparably rare between Aldrovandi and current flora and more represented in Cocconi, probably reflecting the effect of the Little Ice Age. Our findings also indicate the increasing importance of alien species from the Renaissance onwards. In this perspective, Aldrovandi's herbarium preserves the memory of the first signs of a radical transformation of the European flora and habitats. Finally, the study warns about the risk of dismissing herbaria and herbarium specimens collection, which would cause irreparable lacunas in our botanical memory, hindering our ability to predict biodiversity trajectories.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Botanical memory: five centuries of floristic changes revealed by a Renaissance herbarium (Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1551–1586)

Buldrini,

Alessandrini,

Mossetti

et al. 2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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“…In order to make the region habitable and suitable for agriculture, large-scale hydraulic interventions on the territory were performed between the late Middle Ages and the XVIII century, and others have still been done from 1850 onwards (De La Lande 1769 ;Bondesan 1990;Dallai et al 2014). In the late XIX century, the artificial hydrological drainage network was only partially completed (Furlani 2009;Zampighi 2009;Montanari et al 2022). According to Emilia-Romagna's 1853 land use/land cover map derived from the Carta Topografica Austriaca (see Table 1), 157 km 2 of the plain were still occupied by wide areas of 1-3 m deep stagnant water (the so-called valli).…”

Section: The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical Floras: addressing their genesis in order to be viewed from a modern-day perspective. A case study from Northern Italy

Buldrini

Alessandrini²,

Muzzi

et al. 2022

Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei

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Historical Floras are biodiversity-oriented textual sources, which refer to times when scientific methods were far different compared to the present. They are also geographical documents, as the entire work is referred to a focal region explored by certain collectors and following certain principles, since the taxa recorded are usually accompanied by a description of the locality of the observation. Retrospective georeferencing, as well as taxonomic revision, of the records in historical Floras are however very challenging processes, which are usually not taken into account. As a result, very few global overviews of historical Floras exist to date. In this article we present the analysis of the 7767 floristic records of the late XIX century Flora of the province of Bologna (N-Italy) compiled by Girolamo Cocconi. We processed these records by georeferencing them, whenever possible, to 659 pairs of coordinates and coupling them with the analysis of the collectors involved besides the author, as to provide the spatial and temporal dimension that permits us to further understand the taxonomic information given by the species listed. This allowed us to detect a bias in the exploration of the territory, which depended on accessibility and/or attractivity of the areas for fieldwork and shifted through time as function of the available collaborators who influenced the definition of the floristic pattern of the territory. Finally, we provided a diachronic analysis with the present flora in order to document the most significant land use changes based on selected floristic target groups. INTRODUCTIONWritten sources such as books may represent an important source of information when analysing landscape history and transformation (e.g. Fuchs et al. 2015). This is the case in various European countries, where written sources like exploration travel reports, chorographic atlases or Floras cover a time interval of centuries and prove a true cultural heritage for the area of reference (e.g. Rohl 2011). In this context ancient Floras 1 represent an iconic case of highly valuable cultural and scientific heritage, especially the oldest ones. In Europe, the very first modern Flora is probably the Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum by John Ray (Online resource 1), which first appeared towards the end of the XVII century (Stace 1989), even if the first place is usually given to Linnaeus' Flora Lapponica, published in 1737 (Frodin 2002). But actually, an earlier anticipation was provided by Ray himself with his Catalogus plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium (1660), that is, to our knowledge, the first European urbanmunicipality-countee Flora. Some decades later (e.g. Séguier 1745; Scopoli 1760; Vitman 1773; Buillard 1776; Lamarck 1778), especially during the XIX century, several local or national Floras were published (e.g. Bertoloni 1833-1854; Rostrup 1860; Wilkomm and Lange 1861-1880). Regarding the Italian situation in particular, at least 33 local Floras were published during the boom of floristic exploration from 1849 to...

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The invasion history of Elodea canadensis and E. nuttallii (Hydrocharitaceae) in Italy from herbarium accessions, field records and historical literature

et al. 2022

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We analysed the invasion history of two North American macrophytes (Elodea canadensis and E. nuttallii) in Italy, through an accurate census of all available herbarium and field records, dating between 1850 and 2019, and a rich literature collection describing the initial introduction and naturalisation phase that supports the results obtained by the occurrence records. Elodea canadensis arrived in Italy before 1866 and had two invasion phases, between the 1890s and 1920s and between the 1990s and 2000s; E. nuttallii, probably arrived in the 1970s, started invading in 2000 and the invasion is still ongoing. Botanical gardens and fish farming played a crucial role in dispersal and naturalisation of both species. The current invasion range of both species is centred in northern Italy, with scattered occurrences of E. canadensis in central and southern regions. River Po represents a dispersal barrier to the Mediterranean region and a strategic monitoring site to prevent the invasion in the peninsula. The study detects differences in the niches of the two species during the introduction and naturalisation phase and a habitat switch occurred after 1980 in E. canadensis and after 2000 in E. nuttallii, during their expansion phases. For E. canadensis the switch corresponds to the second invasion round. Further research can clarify whether the second invasion round is due to confusion of the recently introduced E. nuttallii with E. canadensis, to a cryptic introduction of a new genotype, to post-introduction evolution, or just to an increased scientific interest in biological invasions.

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Flora and plant communities across a complex network of heavily modified water bodies: geographical patterns, land use and hydrochemical drivers in a temperate overexploited plain

Cited by 6 publications

References 38 publications

Botanical memory: five centuries of floristic changes revealed by a Renaissance herbarium (Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1551–1586)

Botanical memory: five centuries of floristic changes revealed by a Renaissance herbarium (Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1551–1586)

Historical Floras: addressing their genesis in order to be viewed from a modern-day perspective. A case study from Northern Italy

The invasion history of Elodea canadensis and E. nuttallii (Hydrocharitaceae) in Italy from herbarium accessions, field records and historical literature

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