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

Cecco, Valter Di; Santo, Marco Di; Musciano, Michele Di; Manzi, Aurelio; Cecco, Mirella Di; Ciaschetti, Giampiero; Marcantonio, Giuseppe; Martino, Luciano Di

doi:10.3897/italianbotanist.10.52952

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(54 reference statements)

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“…The boundaries coincide with a Special Protection Area ( SPA ) for the conservation of wild birds (established by the Birds Directive 79/409/EEC). Furthermore, within the Park, there are four Special Areas of Conservation ( SAC ), established by the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC ( Di Cecco et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The lichens of the Majella National Park (Central Italy): an annotated checklist

Gheza¹,

Nuzzo²,

Vallese³

et al. 2021

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The botanical exploration of the Majella National Park has a long tradition dating back to the eighteenth century. However, the lichen biota of this area is still poorly investigated. To provide a baseline for future investigations, in this annotated checklist, we summarised all available information on the occurrence of lichens in the Majella National Park, retrieved from previous literature, herbarium material and original data produced by recent research. The checklist includes 342 infrageneric taxa. However, seven taxa are considered as dubious, thus setting the number of accepted taxa at 335, i.e. 45.8% of those currently known to occur in the Abruzzo Region. This checklist provides a baseline of the lichens known to occur in the Majella National Park, highlighting the potential of this area as a hotspot of lichen biodiversity, especially from a biogeographical point of view as indicated by the occurrence of several arctic-alpine species that form disjunct populations in the summit area of the massif.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The lichens of the Majella National Park (Central Italy): an annotated checklist

Gheza¹,

Nuzzo²,

Vallese³

et al. 2021

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“…The boundaries coincide with a Special Protection Area (SPA) for the conservation of wild birds (established by the Birds Directive 79/409/EEC). Furthermore, four Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) established by Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC [64] occur within the Park. The Park is an example where ex situ and in situ conservation strategies (e.g., endemic, rare, and endangered species) are implemented in a complementary way.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is extremely rich in plant vascular species, with its flora listing a high number of specific and subspecific taxa, for a total of 2286 [65], and a sizeable group of southern European orophytes and Mediterranean montane species [5], thus representing a true biodiversity hotspot [66]. The natural biodiversity is supported by shelters offered by geography and the natural environment, and the park authority assures a set of facilities required to implement ex situ conservation strategies, such as a botanical garden, a seed bank, a nursery, and a network of "guardian farmers" [64].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnostic Species Diversity Pattern Can Provide Key Information on Vegetation Change: An Insight into High Mountain Habitats in Central Apennines

Varricchione

Cecco²,

Santoianni

et al. 2021

JZBG

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High mountain ecosystems are hotspots of biodiversity that are highly vulnerable to climate warming and land use change. In Europe, high mountain habitats are included in the EC Directive 92/43/EEC (Habitats Directive) and the identification of practices facilitating effective monitoring is crucial for meeting HD goals. We analyzed the temporal changes in species composition and diversity on high mountain EU habitats and explored if the subgroup of diagnostic species was able to summarize the comprehensive information on plant community variations. We performed a re-visitation study, using a set of 30 georeferenced historical plots newly collected after 20 years on two EU habitats (Galium magellense community growing on screes (8120 EU) and Trifolium thalii community of snowbeds (6170 EU)) in the Maiella National Park (MNP), which is one of the most threatened Mediterranean mountains in Europe. The presence of several endangered species and the availability of a botanical garden, a seed bank, and a nursery, make the MNP an excellent training ground to explore in situ and ex situ conservation strategies. We compared overall and diagnostic species richness patterns over time by rarefaction curves and described the singular aspects of species diversity (e.g., richness, Shannon index, Simpson index, and Berger–Parker index), by Rènyi’s diversity profiles. Diversity values consistently varied over time and across EU habitat types, with increasing values on scree communities and decreasing values on snowbeds. These changes could be associated with both land use change, through the increase of grazing pressure of Apennine chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata), which determined a rise of nitrophilous species in the scree community, and an increase of grasses at the expense of forbs in snowbeds, and to climate change, which promoted a general expansion of thermophilous species. Despite the two opposite, ongoing processes on the two plant communities studied, our results evidenced that diagnostic species and overall species followed the same trend of variation, demonstrating the potential of diagnostics for EU habitat monitoring. Our observations suggested that the re-visitation of historical plots and the implementation of frequent monitoring campaigns on diagnostic species can provide important data on species abundance and distribution patterns in these vulnerable ecosystems, supporting optimized in situ and ex situ conservation actions.

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“…network (national network of 15 seed banks) focused on wild, rare or endemic species, which are threatened with extinction, and on native varieties (Di Martino et al, 2015). It aims the conservation of plant germplasm, as part of the in-situ conservation activities in the botanical gardens of the park or in the sites of farming designated keepers (Di Cecco et al, 2020). The strong relationship between the landscape and humans led to preserve some varieties almost disappeared .…”

Section: Mariano Mercurio (University Of Sannio)mentioning

confidence: 99%

GEOLOGY WITHOUT BORDERS - 90° Congresso della Società Geologica Italiana

Barghini¹,

Pratesi²,

Gardiol³

et al. 2021

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Miramare Castle in Trieste (Italy) with mountains in background (Photo 7915319 © Jackallxxx | Dreamstime.com).Papers, data, figures, maps and any other material published are covered by the copyright own by the Società Geologica Italiana. DISCLAIMER: The Società Geologica Italiana, the Editors are not responsible for the ideas, opinions, and contents of the papers published; the authors of each paper are responsible for the ideas opinions and contents published.La Società Geologica Italiana, i curatori scientifici non sono responsabili delle opinioni espresse e delle affermazioni pubblicate negli articoli: l'autore/i è/sono il/i solo/i responsabile/i.

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

Cited by 13 publications

References 48 publications

The lichens of the Majella National Park (Central Italy): an annotated checklist

The lichens of the Majella National Park (Central Italy): an annotated checklist

Diagnostic Species Diversity Pattern Can Provide Key Information on Vegetation Change: An Insight into High Mountain Habitats in Central Apennines

GEOLOGY WITHOUT BORDERS - 90° Congresso della Società Geologica Italiana

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