Plant communities structure and composition in three coastal wetlands in southern Apulia (Italy)

Abstract

In this paper the results of a study on the composition and the distribution of the plant communities in three coastal areas of southern Apulia are presented. A total of about 180 vegetation relevés were performed following the BraunBlanquet phytosociological method. Vegetation data were analysed using both classification (UPGMA, similarity ratio) and ordination methods (including Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMS) and Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA). The relevés are distributed in the following classes: Molinio-Arrhenateretea, Phragmito-Magnocaricetea, Juncetea maritimi, Sarcocornietea fruticosae, Saginetea maritimae, Thero-Salicornietea, Helianthemetea guttati. Detailed information about structure and zoning of the detected plant communities are here provided. Two new associations, belonging to the Alkanno-Maresion nanae alliance (microphytic ephemeral plant communities growing on sandy soils, Helianthemetea guttati class) have been described here, both in the "Torre Guaceto" site. The area of "Le Cesine" showed the highest total number of plant communities, while the "Saline di Punta della Contessa" site revealed the largest number of Sarcocornietea fruticosae plant communities.

Phytosociology and Ecology of Cressa Cretica L. (Convolvulaceae) on the Eastern Adriatic Coast

“…This association has already been noted for Tunisia (Barbagallo et al 1990), Corsica (Paradis & Tomasi 1991, Géhu & Biondi 1994, Lorenzoni & Paradis 1994, Paradis & Lorenzoni 1999, Sardinia (Biondi et al 2001), Sicily (Brullo & Furnari 1976), Spain (Galán de Mera et al 1997), and the south-western Adriatic coast (Tomaselli et al 2010(Tomaselli et al , 2011. Although C. cretica has also been reported from Albania, it does not build separate Brought to you by | MIT Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 5/11/18 2:17 AM plant associations (cf.…”

“…The Croatian association differed from the south-western Adriatic association (Brindisi) which included some more species (8), mostly from the Saginetea maritimae class (Tomaselli et al 2011).…”

“…Cressetum creticae is closely related to the western Adriatic associations Suaedo-Salicornietum patulae and Suaedo maritimae-Bassietum hirsutae (Poldini et al 1999, Tomaselli et al 2011. Nevertheless the Suaedo maritimae-Bassietum hirsutae association is incompletely developed within the north Adriatic, due to the absence of two characteristic species: Cressa cretica is completly missing and Bassia hirsuta has become rare north of Ravenna (Poldini et al 1999, Kaligarič & Škornik 2006.…”

“…Poldini et al 1999, Merloni 2007, Tomaselli et al 2011, Sciandrello & Tomaselli 2014, and references therein) and eastern Adriatic coasts (Janković & Stevanović 1983, Alegro et al 2004, Kaligarič & Škornik 2006, 2007, Pandža et al 2007, Shehu et al 2010, Šajna et al 2013), but there remain sites that have not yet been investigated. Among these is a coastal salt-marsh situated on the central east coast of the Adriatic in south Croatia.…”

Plant communities preferences of terrestrial crustaceans (Isopoda: Oniscidea) in a protected coastal area of southeastern Sicily (Italy)

“…which is very sensitive to dryness and is very rarely captured by pitfall trap because of its low mobility and scarce superficial activity. High species richness was found in Arthrocnemo-Juncetum subulati (AJs), Phragmitetum communis (Pc), and Agropyro scirpei-Inuletum crithmoidis (AsIc), which grows on salt clay soils humid for long time (Tomaselli et al 2011;Sciandrello & Tomaselli 2014). Arthrocnemo-Juncetum subulati (AJs) was the richest with 13 species, two of which, H. hirsuta and P. lamellatus, are purely halophilous species (see also Montesanto et al 2007) and one, C. elongata, is strongly hydrophilous and also has the highest aAD value (18.67).…”