Urban landscape evolution as a consequence of an invasive pest: The case of a small sicilian town

Abstract

The Red Palm Weevil (RPW), after its accidental introduction in Italy in 2005, determined a progressive disruption of Canary palms mostly in the central and southern regions. As it is difficult to undertake the management of this pest, the possibility of substituting the killed/symptomatic palms with other ornamental trees has been recently discussed. In this context, understanding the citizens' needs about green areas can improve the management of public parks and urban greening. Involving citizens on the natural resource management using public participation processes is crucial. The case study of a small town of Sicily (Italy) was treated and the spread of this pest was monitored. Moreover, the possibility of substituting the killed palms with other ornamentals was discussed by involving a sample of the population through a direct survey aimed at detecting the preferences in respect to certain tree species (as potential substitutes of the killed palms) listed in a questionnaire administered face-to-face. The citizen's samples showed great interest in the green areas (97%) and indicated a traditional Mediterranean plant as Nerium oleander as the preferred palm substitute candidate.

Fifteen years of Landscape Online: Looking back at the development of an e-journal

“…In addition, Zurlini et al (2015) published a theoretical reflection on sustainable landscape development and value rigidity, demanding to reappraise values like in the case of 'the Pirsig's monkey trap'. However, comparatively few articles were published that had a rather direct natural scientific perspective, e.g., about the variability of vegetation due to climate change (Kullman, 2015), invasive pests (Schimmenti et al, 2017), aquatic Macrophytes (Brummer et al, 2017), and ecological assessments of biodiversity (Räsänen et al, 2015;Veselaj and Mustafa, 2015). Furthermore, several articles examined transition and landscape change with implications for sustainable landscape planning and development (Artmann and Breuste, 2014;Cabrera, 2015;Carlsson et al, 2017;Leibenath and Otto, 2014;Lüker-Jans et al, 2016;Schimmenti et al, 2017).…”

Can increasing infestations by Rhynchophorus ferrugineus threaten endemic Chamaerops humilis in Sardinia (Italy)?

“…For instance, from 2007 to 2010 this pest killed almost 20 000 palms in Sicily, 99% of which were P. canariensis (Peri et al, 2013). For this reason, the urban landscape of many historic cities, such as Palermo and Catania in Sicily, has been irreversibly changed (Manachini et al, 2013;Schimmenti et al, 2017). The red palm weevil has been listed on the EPPO A2 List of pests recommended for regulation as a quarantine pest since 2006 (EPPO, 2018).…”