Red list of threatened vascular plants in Italy

Abstract

Italy has a rich natural heritage, which is dangerously under pressure. In recent years, there is an increased awareness of the crucial role of plants in ecosystem functioning and in providing ecosystem services. Consequently, an updated Red List of the Italian vascular flora was compiled in this work, at the request of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection, with the scientific support of the Italian Botanical Society. The IUCN Red List criteria were applied to 2,430 Italian native vascular plant taxa to assess their current extinction risk and to highlight the major threats affecting the Italian flora. Our results revealed that 54 taxa (2.2% of the assessed taxa) are extinct or possibly extinct at regional level, while 590 taxa (24.3%) were assigned to a risk category. Moreover, 404 taxa (16.6%) were categorized as Data Deficient. The Italian vascular flora is primarily threatened by habitat modifications due to anthropic disturbance and, especially, to agriculture, tourism and residential development. Coastal areas and lowlands, where anthropogenic impacts and ecosystem destruction are more pronounced, host the greatest number of extinct or declining taxa. Our results represent an important baseline to establish conservation priorities, legislative choices and intervention strategies on a national scale.

A Common Approach to the Conservation of Threatened Island Vascular Plants: First Results in the Mediterranean Basin

“…In order to select the plant species that will be targeted during the project, four common criteria to prioritize the conservation actions were preliminarily agreed on, in order to develop knowledge and common methodologies among the islands. The following four criteria were established: (1) the threat degree, referring to the inclusion of a plant species into a threat category of the global/regional IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List as at least "threatened" (thus corresponding to the IUCN categories CR, EN and VU), and the DD plant species has been additionally included as a precautionary approach [50][51][52][53]; (2) the "regional responsibility" criterion, indicating the greatest importance given to those species whose distribution is restricted to a specific territory, such as endemic plant species and plants deserving conservation interest for a given island (e.g., peripheral and isolated plant populations, PIPPs, etc.) [51,[53][54][55][56]; (3) the so-called "policy species", which include those taxa listed in the European (i.e., Habitat Directive), or in other specific national or regional laws/regulations [7,56]; and finally, (4) vascular plants linked to wetlands, habitats severely threatened by climate change or climatic instability and hosting species intrinsically unable to migrate to other sites [57].…”

The Majella National Park: a case study for the conservation of plant biodiversity in the Italian Apennines

“…1. Policy Species e altre specie minacciate (Rossi et al 2013); Red Listing plants under full national responsibility: extinction risks and threats in the vascular flora endemic to Italy (Orsenigo et al 2018); Red list of threatened vascular plants in Italy (Orsenigo et al 2020). The accessions of local agronomic landraces are shown at the end of the…”

“…), the European Community "Habitat" Directive 43/92, Regional Law no. 45/1979 for the protection of Flora in Abruzzo and Red Lists of Italian Plants (Rossi et al 2013;Orsenigo et al 2018Orsenigo et al , 2020. Furthermore, activities relating to restocking projects on plant species included in annex II of the Habitats Directive are underway.…”

Contribution to the floristic knowledge of Sillaro, Santerno, and Senio high valleys (Toscana, Italy)

“…(Kirschner and Stepánek 1998) and was so far reported only for Emilia-Romagna in Italy, from an area actually close this new locality (Peruzzi and Carlesi 2011). Hypochaeris laevigata reaches in Toscana its northern distribution limit, occurring in Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria, Basilicata, and Puglia (doubtful in Campania, Bartolucci et al 2018 (Rossi et al 2013;Orsenigo et al 2020) as LC.…”