Italy has a rich natural heritage, which is dangerously under pressure. In recent years, there is an increased awareness of the crucial role of plants in ecosystem functioning and in providing ecosystem services. Consequently, an updated Red List of the Italian vascular flora was compiled in this work, at the request of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection, with the scientific support of the Italian Botanical Society. The IUCN Red List criteria were applied to 2,430 Italian native vascular plant taxa to assess their current extinction risk and to highlight the major threats affecting the Italian flora. Our results revealed that 54 taxa (2.2% of the assessed taxa) are extinct or possibly extinct at regional level, while 590 taxa (24.3%) were assigned to a risk category. Moreover, 404 taxa (16.6%) were categorized as Data Deficient. The Italian vascular flora is primarily threatened by habitat modifications due to anthropic disturbance and, especially, to agriculture, tourism and residential development. Coastal areas and lowlands, where anthropogenic impacts and ecosystem destruction are more pronounced, host the greatest number of extinct or declining taxa. Our results represent an important baseline to establish conservation priorities, legislative choices and intervention strategies on a national scale.

Orsenigo, S., Fenu, G., Gargano, D., Montagnani, C., Abeli, T., Alessandrini, A., et al. (2021). Red list of threatened vascular plants in Italy. PLANT BIOSYSTEMS, 155(2), 310-335 [10.1080/11263504.2020.1739165].

Red list of threatened vascular plants in Italy

Chiara Montagnani;
2021

Abstract

Italy has a rich natural heritage, which is dangerously under pressure. In recent years, there is an increased awareness of the crucial role of plants in ecosystem functioning and in providing ecosystem services. Consequently, an updated Red List of the Italian vascular flora was compiled in this work, at the request of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection, with the scientific support of the Italian Botanical Society. The IUCN Red List criteria were applied to 2,430 Italian native vascular plant taxa to assess their current extinction risk and to highlight the major threats affecting the Italian flora. Our results revealed that 54 taxa (2.2% of the assessed taxa) are extinct or possibly extinct at regional level, while 590 taxa (24.3%) were assigned to a risk category. Moreover, 404 taxa (16.6%) were categorized as Data Deficient. The Italian vascular flora is primarily threatened by habitat modifications due to anthropic disturbance and, especially, to agriculture, tourism and residential development. Coastal areas and lowlands, where anthropogenic impacts and ecosystem destruction are more pronounced, host the greatest number of extinct or declining taxa. Our results represent an important baseline to establish conservation priorities, legislative choices and intervention strategies on a national scale.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Biodiversity conservation; IUCN Red Lists; Mediterranean Basin; prioritization; threatened plants;
English
26-mar-2020
2021
155
2
310
335
reserved
Orsenigo, S., Fenu, G., Gargano, D., Montagnani, C., Abeli, T., Alessandrini, A., et al. (2021). Red list of threatened vascular plants in Italy. PLANT BIOSYSTEMS, 155(2), 310-335 [10.1080/11263504.2020.1739165].
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Orsenigo-2020-Plant Biosyst-VoR.pdf

Solo gestori archivio

Descrizione: Original Article
Tipologia di allegato: Publisher’s Version (Version of Record, VoR)
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati
Dimensione 4.11 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
4.11 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/418586
Citazioni
  • Scopus 83
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 58
Social impact