Monitoring Natura 2000 habitats: habitat 92A0 in central Italy as an example

Abstract

The evaluation and the subsequent monitoring of the conservation status of habitats is one of the key steps in nature protection. While some European countries have tested suitable methodologies, others, including Italy, lack procedures tested at the national level. The aim of this work is to propose a method to assess the conservation status of habitat 92A0 (Salix alba and Populus alba galleries) in central Italy, and to test the method using data from the Molise region. We selected parameters that highlight the conservation status of the flora and vegetation in order to assess habitat structures and functions at the site level. After selecting the parameters, we tested them on a training dataset of 22 unpublished phytosociological relevés taken from the whole dataset, which consists of 119 relevés (49 unpublished relevés for the study area, and 70 published relevés for central Italy). We detected the most serious conservation problems in the middle and lower course of the Biferno river: the past use of river terraces for agriculture and continual human interventions on the river water flow have drastically reduced the riparian forests of Molise. Our results show that in areas in which forest structure and floristic composition have been substantially modified, certain alien plant species, particularly Robinia pseudoacacia, Amorpha fruticosa and Erigeron canadensis, have spread extensively along rivers. In the management of riparian forests, actions aimed at maintaining the stratification of the forest, its uneven-agedness and tree species richness may help to ensure the conservation status, as well as favour the restoration, of habitat 92A0.

Riparian woody plant communities in the Romanian Carpathians: Species diversity and community structure of Salix and Hippophaë communities

“…Italy (Carli et al, 2016) support observations of altered floristic structures, where certain exotic plant species-specifically Robinia pseudoacacia, Amorpha fruticosa, and Erigeron canadensis-have extensively spread along rivers. Effective riparian forest management involves actions that maintain forest stratification, age diversity, and tree species richness, ensuring conservation status and facilitating the restoration of the 92A0 habitat (Carli et al, 2016;Meireles et al, 2009).…”

Detecting the imprints of past clear‐cutting on riparian forest plant communities along a Mediterranean river

“…These species have a series of reproductive, physiological, and morphological adaptations to counteract flooding, sediment deposition, and erosion, which make them one of the most important components of the river ecosystem (Naiman et al, 2010). However, the extent, structural complexity, and naturalness of riparian forests is often significantly compromised (Carli et al, 2016). This is due to anthropogenic disturbance factors such as agricultural or urban land use, human‐induced hydrogeomorphological changes, the building of infrastructures (Brown et al, 2018; Dufour & Rodríguez‐González, 2019), biological invasions (Lazzaro et al, 2020; Pyšek et al, 2010), and clear‐cutting harvesting (Richardson et al, 2007).…”

“…However, the extent, structural complexity, and naturalness of riparian forests is often significantly compromised (Carli et al, 2016). This is due to anthropogenic disturbance factors such as agricultural or urban land use, human-induced hydrogeomorphological changes, the building of infrastructures (Brown et al, 2018;Dufour & Rodríguez-González, 2019), biological invasions (Lazzaro et al, 2020;Pyšek et al, 2010), and clear-cutting harvesting (Richardson et al, 2007).…”