The agricultural heritage of Lampedusa (Pelagie Archipelago, South Italy) and its key role for cultivar and wildlife conservation

Abstract

As occurred on many other small Mediterranean islands, agricultural activity at Lampedusa (Strait of Sicily) underwent a very strong decline in terms of surface area during the second half of the last century. In particular, cereal crops have ceased and horticulture is disappearing, while vineyards still occupy a reduced area but are quickly vanishing and currently survive thanks to a small number of old farmers. Here are presented the results of a research carried out by interviewing seven farmers in order to study not only the techniques and the germplasm used in local viticulture, but also the final use of grapes and an evaluation on the connection between traditional farming and agro-ecosystems plant species-richness. Vines were grown for wine, to produce fresh and sun-dried grapes, or to preserve them in alcohol. Several names of the local varieties suggest that they might have been introduced in Lampedusa from the neighbouring territories: being fishermen and farmers at the same time, local people had trade relationships with other Mediterranean areas such as Tunisia, Malta and Southern Italy. Furthermore, local farming plays a key role in plant conservation. In fact, the disappearance of agricultural systems is leading to the extinction of 43 plant species, some of them considered rare not only on the local level, but also on the regional and national one. Because of the small size of farmland and its fragmentation, local agriculture cannot be supported by the European Community. Therefore, in order to safeguard local viticulture, special systems of assistance and new managing policies - focused on rural development plans and showing which concrete actions are necessary and feasible to protect the agroecosystems - are needed

Urgent need for preservation of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. subsp. vinifera) germplasm from small circum-Sicilian islands as revealed by SSR markers and traditional use investigations

“…It appears like a triangular plateau with an almost continuous steep cliff on the northern coast and gently declining slopes southwards, with several canyons; local agriculture developed inside these canyons, on intensively terraced surfaces (La Mantia et al 2011). Lampedusa was first inhabited during the Neolithic and seems to have hosted a continuous human community until the end of 2000 BCE, probably related to the Maltese megalithic civilization (Radi 1973).…”

“…After the establishment of a permanent Bourbon colony in 1843, grape cultivation was introduced in the island (Calcagno 1879) and until the end of the World War II Lampedusa was almost self-sufficient for agriculture. Today, only few cultivated fields, mostly vineyards (Di Lorenzo et al 2010) and vegetable orchards, survive in very restricted areas (Hammer and Laghetti 2006;La Mantia et al 2011).…”

“…Since the end of World War II, however, agriculture rapidly declined, and the economy became more and more dependent on tourism. Currently, marginal agriculture only survives thanks to a small number of aged farmers (La Mantia et al 2011), suggesting that the traditional varieties and the local related knowledge will disappear in the next future.…”

<i>Acacia cyclops</i> A. Cunn. ex G. Don (Leguminosae) in Italy: first cases of naturalization

“…Although the most intense renewal and spread of the invading species has been recorded within afforested areas, the first attempts to spread out of the artificial plantation limits were observed since 2008. This success may be enhanced by local climate, which matches very well A. cyclops requirements: local mean yearly temperature is about 19 °C, while the mean annual rainfall, mostly concentrated between October and March, has decreased from 500 to about 300 mm in the last 150 years (La Mantia & al., 2011).…”

Relationship between recruitment and mother plant vitality in the alien species Acacia cyclops A. Cunn. ex G. Don

“…Recently, A. cyclops started to spread also within coastal areas in the Mediterranean Basin, including Northern Africa and Sicily (Vilà et al, 1999;Badalamenti et al, 2013). Mediterranean insular ecosystems, known for their heritage of biological diversity and rate of endemism, could be seriously threatened by A. cyclops (La Mantia et al, 2011;Pasta and La Mantia, 2013; DAISIE database: http:// www.europe-aliens.org/speciesFactsheet.do?speciesId=12740#). In Lampedusa, the largest island of the Pelagie Archipelago (Sicily), natural regeneration of A. cyclops attained a considerable abundance.…”