Habitat conservation prioritization: A floristic approach applied to a Mediterranean wetland network

Abstract

The importance of plant communities for conservation purposes is recognized in their inclusion in the "Habitat Directive" (92/43 EEC), that relates habitat types to plant community syntaxonomic units. However, habitat definitions in the Habitat Directive lead to several inaccuracies in local habitat characterization. Several wetland plant communities (and their corresponding habitats), rare in the Mediterranean basin, are not included in the Habitat Directive. This study proposes criteria for assessing the conservation importance of habitats. It deals with plant community types at the alliance level, as promising units for setting conservation priorities. The principle criteria considered as drivers for setting alliance conservation values are the distribution and abundance of plant species of conservation interest and their fidelity to a plant community. Multivariate methods were used, and a quantitative floristic index of alliance conservation priority was created. This procedure was applied to an important wetland in central Italy. Results emphasize: (i) high conservation values of some alliances not listed in the Habitat Directive, confirming various gaps in the current conservation law affecting Mediterranean wetlands; (ii) that habitats widely distributed in other biogeographical areas, may greatly underestimate their conservation importance in Mediterranean region; (iii) need to consider regional peculiarities when setting conservation priorities.

Natura 2000 protected habitats, Massaciuccoli Lake (northern Tuscany, Italy)

“…The Sphagnum carpets were found in small patches, within reedbeds developing on floating islands, rich in decaying organic matter (syntaxonomically belonging to the association Thelypterido palustris-Phragmitetum australis). These rare communities, though not listed as a habitat of conservation importance in European Directive 92/43/EEC, were recognized to have a great conservation interest (Angiolini et al, 2016;Lastrucci et al, 2014Lastrucci et al, , 2017.…”

“…According to European Directive 92/43/EEC, the field identification of a habitat is based on matching it to one (or more) vegetation types (Angiolini, Viciani, Bonari, & Lastrucci, 2016;Biondi, Casavecchia, & Pesaresi, 2010, 2012Bunce et al, 2013;European Commission, 2013;Evans, 2006;Keith et al, 2013Keith et al, , 2015Rodwell et al, 2002;Viciani, Lastrucci, Dell'Olmo, Ferretti, & Foggi, 2014). For this reason, several national and regional vegetation mapping and vegetation data archiving projects are currently being carried out (e.g.…”

Integrating habitat- and species-based perspectives for wetland conservation in lowland agricultural landscapes

“…Vegetation-based indicators have been used to assess wetland restoration and conservation priorities (Matthews et al 2009;Benavent-González et al 2014;Angiolini et al 2017), by considering that several animal communities can be affected by vegetation structures/ systems (Schwab et al 2002;Zellweger et al 2017). In fact, vegetation plays a pivotal role in shaping physical habitats, especially in aquatic contexts where aquatic plants act as engineer species deeply modifying the colonized environments (Pierobon et al 2010;Ribaudo et al 2018).…”

“…In the biodiversity assessment and conservation planning context, habitats are increasingly being tested for species conservation (Bunce et al 2013), and their relevance has already been specifically stressed for marine (Dalleau et al 2010) and terrestrial ecosystems (Oliver et al 2004). Nevertheless, little is known about their roles in inland wetlands, mainly in lowland agricultural landscapes (but see an example in a Mediterranean wetland network, Angiolini et al 2017). Indeed, the relationship between livestock, farming, irrigation and nature conservation is a critical and crucial topic, with open debate in biological conservation (Bolpagni and Piotti 2016).…”

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

“…According to the European Directive 92/43/EEC, the field identification of a habitat is based on matching it to one (or more) vegetation types (Angiolini, Viciani, Bonari, & Lastrucci, 2017;Biondi, Casavecchia, & Pesaresi, 2010;Biondi et al, 2012;Bunce et al, 2013;European Commission, 2013;Evans, 2006;Keith et al, 2013Keith et al, , 2015Rodwell et al, 2002;Viciani et al, 2014;Viciani, Dell'Olmo, et al, 2016;Viciani, Dell'Olmo, Vicenti, & Lastrucci, 2017). For this reason, several national and regional vegetation-mapping and vegetation data archiving projects are currently being carried out (e.g.…”