ambientale, sapienza università di roma, roma, italy; f Dipartimento di scienze e tecnologie Biologiche ed ambientali, università del salento, lecce, italy; g istituto Beni culturali, regione emilia-romagna, Bologna, italy; h centro conservazione Biodiversità (ccB), Dipartimento di scienze della Vita e dell'ambiente (DisVa), università di cagliari, cagliari, italy; i scuola di Bioscienze e medicina Veterinaria, università di camerino, macerata, italy; j Dipartimento di scienze della Vita, università di modena e reggio emilia, modena, italy; k Dipartimento di scienze della terra, dell'ambiente e della Vita (DistaV), università di genova, genova, italy; l Dipartimento di Biologia, ecologia, e scienze della terra (DiBest), università della calabria, cosenza, italy; m Dipartimento di scienze della Vita e Biologia dei sistemi (DBios), università di torino, torino, italy; n comitato scientifico, museo regionale di scienze naturali efisio noussan, aosta, italy; o sezione di Botanica filippo Parlatore, museo di storia naturale, università di firenze, firenze, italy; p Dipartimento di Biologia, università di napoli federico ii, napoli, italy; q Dipartimento di scienze agrarie, alimentari e forestali, università di Palermo, Palermo, italy; r scuola di scienze agrarie, forestali, alimentari ed ambientali, università della Basilicata, Potenza, italy; s strada Val san martino superiore, torino, italy; t centro ricerche floristiche marche, Pesaro, italy; u Dipartimento di Pianificazione, Design, tecnologia dell'architettura (PDta), sapienza università di roma, roma, italy; v Department of Botany, national museum of natural history, smithsonian institution, washington, Dc, usa; w Via isonzo, massa, italy; x Dipartimento di scienze della terra, università di torino, torino, italy; y Via regazzoni Bassa, Padova, italy; z museo di storia naturale della calabria ed orto Botanico, università della calabria, cosenza, italy; aa Dipartimento di scienze della Vita, università di trieste, trieste, italy; ab fondazione museo civico di rovereto, trento, italy; ac sezione di Botanica ed ecologia Vegetale, Dipartimento di scienze e tecnologie Biologiche, chimiche e farmaceutiche (steBicef), università di Palermo, Palermo, italy; ad Dipartimento di scienze agrarie e forestali (Dafne), università della tuscia, Viterbo, italy; ae Via europa unita, schio, italy; af istituto per le Piante da legno e l'ambiente (iPla), torino, italy; ag laboratori di Botanica, Dipartimento di scienze delle Produzioni agroalimentari e dell'ambiente, università di firenze, firenze, italy; ah largo Brigata cagliari, Vercelli, italy; ai Dipartimento di scienze e tecnologie ambientali, Biologiche e farmaceutiche, università della campania luigi Vanvitelli, caserta, italy;

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The Vegetation Prodrome of Italy was promoted in 2012 by the Italian "Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea Protection", in collaboration with the "Italian Society of Botany", to provide a comprehensive and systematic catalogue and description of Italian plant communities. The Prodrome that is presented in this paper is the first full organic synthesis of the vegetation of Italy at the alliance syntaxonomic level. It fulfils several needs, the main one being a unified and comprehensive national framework that may make an important contribution to the definition of the European Vegetation Prodrome. Syntaxonomy, as well as taxonomy, is sometimes based on considerations that may in part diverge: several authors tend to favour models that are divisive or aggregative to a greater or lesser extent in terms of flora, biogeography and ecology. These different points of view stimulate the scientific debate and allow the adoption of a framework that is more widely supported. The Prodrome includes 75 classes, 2 subclasses, 175 orders, 6 suborders and 393 alliances. The classes were grouped into nine broad categories according to structural, physiognomic and synecological elements rather than to syntaxonomic criteria. The rank, full valid name, any synonymies and incorrect names are provided for each syntaxon. The short declaration highlights the physiognomy, synecology, syndynamics and distribution of the plant communities that belong to the syntaxon. The Prodrome of the Italian Vegetation is linked to the European Strategy for Biodiversity, the European Habitats Directive and the European Working Groups related to the ecosystems and their services. In addition to basic applications, the Prodrome can be used as a framework for scientific research related to the investigation of the relationships between plant communities and the environmental factors that influence their composition and distribution

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Until now, analytical studies on European urban floras have mostly concentrated on the central and north-western parts of the continent. In this paper, factors determining species richness of urban flora were studied for the city of Rome, Italy, based on a comprehensive floristic survey carried out between 1985 and 1994, and updated in 2005. All species were recorded in grid cells of 1.6 km(2) and classified into native and alien (the latter divided into archaeophytes and neophytes). The grids were classified with respect to the prevailing habitat type, area available to vegetation, level of disturbance and geographical position within the city. Data were analysed using minimal adequate models. Total species number was determined by habitat and its interaction with position on the north-west gradient; other variables explained much less variance. Holding other variables constant, the average species number per grid cell was highest in archaeological sites and parks, followed by woodlands and rivers, and grasslands and recent developments. Residential areas and the historical centre were poorest in species number. Towards the north of the city, species richness in corresponding habitats increases because of higher landscape heterogeneity and closer association with diaspore pools in the surroundings. Native species make up on average 84% of the total species numbers, and trends opposite to those for the total number of species were found for the proportional representation of aliens. The occurrence of alien and native species in the flora of Rome is driven by similar factors, but factors that increase representation of aliens decrease that of natives and vice versa. The representation of neophytes and native species in grid cells was easier to explain (74% of variation accounted for) than that of archaeophytes (27%); this result reflects that in terms of ecology and response to factors, archaeophytes take an intermediate position between native plants and neophytes. Proportional representation of neophytes decreased with increasing area available to vegetation, reflecting that semi-natural vegetation is better developed where less fragmented

Ecological regions or ecoregions derive from ecological classification of land and represent broad and discrete ecologically homogeneous areas within which natural communities and species interact with the physical elements of the environment. The aim of this paper is to define the ecoregions of Italy, southern Europe, based on a robust methodological process for classification and mapping. The ecoregions of Italy comprise 2 Divisions, 7 Provinces, 11 Sections and 33 Subsections and constitute the first comprehensive ecological classification of the country that integrates accurate and updated cartographies and knowledges on climate, vegetation, land units and biogeography. This classification has the strength to be adopted as a proper framework for ecological modelling, biodiversity conservation policies and sustainable territorial planning at the national and subnational level. © 2014, © 2014 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis

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