Habitat conservation in Italy: the state of the art in the light of the first European Red List of Terrestrial and Freshwater Habitats

Abstract

The importance of taking into account ecosystems, plant communities and habitats for the development of biodiversity conservation strategies is increasingly acknowledged. Recently, the first ever European Red List of Habitats was produced, which provided an evaluation of the extinction risk of EUNIS-based natural and semi-natural habitats in Europe. As assessment unit, it used the habitat intended as a plant community, thus representing a landmark for the role of vegetation science in nature conservation. In the present paper, the results of the European Red List of Habitats are analyzed at the national scale with specific reference to the terrestrial and freshwater habitat types occurring in Italy. More than three-quarters of the assessed European habitat types were recognized for the Italian territory. The distribution of the threat categories reflects approximately the situation at the EU28 level. About 35% of the assessed habitat types are referred to a threat category; no critically endangered habitat is present in Italy. The most frequently used criteria are those related to a reduction in quantity. Some critical issues arising from the analyses are discussed. In particular, the presence of knowledge gaps is pointed out, with remarkable reference to the poor availability of spatial and quantitative data, severely affecting the application of the criteria adopted for the assessment. Descriptions of habitat types from Italy are reported, some of which are representative, emblematic or even exclusive to the Italian territory. The outcomes of the analysis represent the starting point for the future development of a national-scale Red List of Habitats. Results also emphasized how habitat types with a too broad definition pose a limit to a proper evaluation of the regional biogeographic variability, often very high in Italy, with local floristic and phytocoenotic peculiarities which do not find room in the adopted European typology. This is the reason why the development of national subtypes stands as a necessary step for the development of a realistic and effective assessment at the national scale.

A new plant community with the strictly endemic "Cirsium alpis-lunae" (Asteraceae) in the Northern Apennines (Italy) and considerations on the alliances "Senecionion samniti" and "Adenostylion alpinae"

“…Moreover, the peculiarity of Laserpitio latifolii-Cirsietum alpis-lunae conenoses compared with other widespread vegetation types belonging to cod. 6430 confirms that local particular plant communities must be taken into account when assessing the conservation relevance and status of regional territories (Lastrucci et al, 2014;Angiolini et al, 2017;Gigante et al, 2018).…”

Natura 2000 habitat of Mt. Argentario promontory (southern Tuscany, Italy)

“…To periodically check their conservation status and trends, and to verify if the EU biodiversity policy has been effective (Evans, 2012;Henle et al, 2013), in Europe Annex I Habitats monitoring is mandatory every six years for the countries belonging to European Union (Commission of the European Community, 1992; Gigante, Attorre, et al, 2016). Nevertheless, only in recent times, this task begins to be standardized and coordinated, at least at the national level in Italy (Angelini et al, 2016;Gigante et al, 2018;Gigante, Attorre, et al, 2016). Considering the high number of Natura 2000 Special Areas of Conservation in Italy (only in Tuscany they are 131), it must be noted that without adequate and recurrently financial resources granted by regional and national administrations, habitat monitoring risks being able to be realized only partially.…”

Introduction: Vegetation science and the habitats directive: approaches and methodologies of a never-ending story

“…Rodwell et al (2018) highlight the role played by the phytosociological classification of plant communities in the development of habitat classification schemes at continental scale and conducting cross-walks among them. Within this theoretical framework, Gigante et al (2018) present a national assessment of the conservation status of habitats, while Agrillo et al (2018) show an example of the use of vegetation classification and modelling procedures to identify European Q. suber woodland subtypes to establish a protocol for habitat (Carli et al 2018). Moreover, they can be used to identify diagnostic plant species to differentiate habitat subtypes (Bonari et al 2018) and to highlight rare plant communities deserving conservation through inclusion in Annex 1 of the Habitats Directive (Fanelli et al 2018).…”