Guido Brusa

Independent

In this contribution, new data concerning algae, bryophytes, fungi and lichens of the Italian flora are presented. It includes new records and confirmations for the algal genera Chara and Nitella , the bryophyte genera Brachythecium , Didymodon , Fissidens , Physcomitrium , and Riccia , the fungal genera Biatoropsis , Cantharellus , Coprinellus , D...

Abstract – Bamboos (Poaceae) are considered invasive species in several countries around the world, nevertheless their presence is little known in northern Italy where bamboos have recently been included in the Lombardy blacklist. The present study therefore analysed the occurrence of bamboos in natural and seminatural habitats of a Lombardy area (...

Abstract - The orchid Himantoglossum adriaticum H. Baumann in Lombardy. In the past five years, the monitoring of the Lombard populations of Himantoglossum adriaticum was undertaken, since this orchid had been included in Annexes II and IV of the "Habitats" Directive (92/43/EEC). Records of H. adriaticum acquired from various sources allowed the in...

The occurrence of Mannia controversa subsp. controversa was reported in Italy for the first time (Aosta Valley and Lombardy). In the past this taxon had been likely misidentified several times with other apparently similar species of the genus Mannia, but it is distinguished by its peculiar characteristics of thalli and reproductive organs.

Nature-based solutions can help mitigate the heat island phenomenon in densely populated urban areas. As far as building envelopes are concerned, both green roofs and walls provide multiple benefits to the surrounding areas and to the buildings where they have been installed by using plants that act as building materials with specific attributes an...

Quadrant distribution maps in northern Italy of 5 naturalized alien species are presented: Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, Buddleja davidii Franch., Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., Heracleum mantegazzianum Sommier & Levier, Senecio inaequidens DC. The data comes from archives managed by the authors and were also collected thanks to the help of num...

The European Union requires the assessment of the conservation status of European concern flora (Habitats Directive), by means of a monitoring that is implemented by Regions and Autonomous Provinces in Italy. Among species of vascular plants, those listed in Annexes II, whose conservation requires the designation of Special Areas of Conservation, a...

The study reported a floristic research regarding some vascular plants (Aconitum anthora, Berula erecta, Isolepis setacea, Juncus acutiflorus, Ophrys insectifera, Peplis portula and Potamogeton coloratus) evaluated of regional importance (Regional Law n. 45/2009 and Data Deficient in the red list of the Aosta Valley), as well as suggestions for the...

The "Bosco Siro Negri", a State Natural Forest Reserve located within the Ticino river valley (W Lombardy, N Italy), hosts a relict riparian forest dominated by common oak and field elm (Natura 2000 Habitat 91F0). The forest has been left unmanaged since 1950, representing therefore an important case study of a lowland habitat allowed to its natura...

IDPlanT is the Italian Database of Plant Translocation, an initiative of the Nature Conservation Working Group of the Italian Botanical Society. IDPlanT currently includes 185 plant translocations. The establishment of a national database on plant translocation is a key step forward in data sharing and techniques improvement in this field of plant...

Noteworthy new records of 48 species of mosses and liverworts, with notes on their taxonomy, distribution and ecology

The investigation provides records of liverworts in the order Marchantiales for Northern Italy, including new species for the regional flora (Lombardy: Conocephalum salebrosum, Mannia pilosa, Peltolepis quadrata and Riccia huebeneriana; Piedmont: Peltolepis quadrata and Riccia cavernosa; and Veneto: Asterella lindenbergiana). Furthermore, confirmat...

The study analysed the differences in terms of floristic composition and ecology among the plant communities in two habitats of European Union interest occurring in mires. A single association (Cladietum marisci), split into two sub-associations (typicum and schoenetosum nigricantis), was recognized in the habitat 7210. Seven associations (Anacampt...

During the past decades, the montane and subalpine belts of many European mountains experienced agricultural land abandonment followed by spontaneous recolonization of trees and shrubs on semi-natural mountain grasslands, potentially leading to severe losses in biodiversity. Here we analyse the spatial and temporal patterns of forest encroachment o...

The Habitats Directive protects some plant species and habitats in the European Union, also thanks to the establishment of Natura 2000. The present study summarises the distribution of this flora and these habitats of Community interest in Lombardy, with the aim of comparing it with the occurrence of Natura 2000 Sites; in addition, a relative conse...

At least two species of the genus Azolla are currently found in natural environments of Italy: A. filiculoides, whose presence was already known, and a species of the group A. caroliniana/A. cristata, whose occurrence was repeatedly questioned or it was believed as extinct, but it is now definitely included in the Italian alien flora for the popula...

Humans, directly or indirectly, affected the presence of natural forests in the Po Plain. As result, oak-hornbeam communities occur scattered in highly fragmented and floristically degraded woodlands such as on morainic hills of Brianza. This study area is also a biogeographic transition between eastern (Erythronio-Carpinion) and western (Carpinion...

[Wetlands are extremely important ecosystems for supporting biodiversity and providing services. Nonetheless, although they are mostly protected through several regulations, wetlands are affected by many negative factors that are leading to progressive deterioration of their conservation status. This circumstance is especially obvious in the Contin...

43 contributors from Central, Eastern and NE Europe as well as from Ecuador and India report on findings of 30 bryophyte species in different regions of the world. Among them, there are interesting records from Italy (Mannia californica, Ptychostomum arcticum), Czech Republic (Ortholimnobium handelii), Poland (Lophoziopsis propagulifera), Latvia (P...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are the subset of naturalized species that cause greater impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services. However, despite management actions and eradication plans, their expansion worldwide is seemingly unstoppable. In this paper, based on a large dataset of 1039 records of IAS and native plant species repres...

The land use from the 18th century to the present was analyzed in the municipalities nearby Malpensa airport (Province of Varese, North-Western Lombardy). The aim of the study was to analyze the changes in the territory at present managed as natural park and as regional park, with particular reference to the shrublands and therefore to the habitat...

Italy is among the European countries with the greatest plant diversity due to both a great environmental heterogeneity and a long history of man-environment interactions. Trait-based approaches to ecological studies have developed greatly over recent decades worldwide, although several issues concerning the relationships between plant functional t...

The present paper describes a procedure for mapping the distribution of Natura 2000 terrestrial habitats (Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC) at the regional scale (Lombardy, Northern Italy) by means of open-source software (QGIS and R). The habitat map within Natura 2000 sites was used for modelling the regional distribution of three selected habitats,...

One of the key principles for modeling future impacts of anthropogenic and climate changes on vegetation is to identify clear patterns and trends between plant functional traits and ecological drivers. The global spectrum of plant form and function outlines the major axes of variation and coordination among plant traits. We hypothesized that inter-...

“How to implement the floristic-vegetational knowledge in Lombardy? The database of the habitats of community interest (Directive 92/43/EEC)”. This research outlined the synthesis of knowledges from the database concerning the phytosociological relevés about habitats of community interest (Directive 92/43/EEC) in Lombardy. The database included 473...

The importance of heathlands as habitats for plants and thus for nature conservation is recognized by European Directive 92/43 (Habitats Directive). However, heathlands are threatened by habitat loss and quality degradation due to several drivers. Temperate Calluna vulgaris communities in the Po basin and in the Southern Alps (NW Italy) are disjunc...

Competitor, stress‐tolerator, ruderal ( CSR ) theory is a prominent plant functional strategy scheme previously applied to local floras. Globally, the wide geographic and phylogenetic coverage of available values of leaf area ( LA ), leaf dry matter content ( LDMC ) and specific leaf area ( SLA ) (representing, respectively, interspecific variation...

A field-portable list of mean CSR strategies for common plant species, adapted from Table S1 of Pierce et al. (2017) Functional Ecology 31: 444–457 doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.12722 for use on smartphones

‘StrateFy’, the global vascular plant CSR calculator tool from Pierce et al. (2017; Funct. Ecol. 31(2), 444-457) in Microsoft Excel format.

p>The existence of strong potential synergies between the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Habitats Directive (HD) is widely acknowledged. Indeed, ensuring favourable conservation conditions for aquatic habitats and species of conservation concern is closely related to the achievement of a good ecological status in water bodies. However, sin...

Trait-based approaches are widely used in community ecology and invasion biology to unravel underlying mechanisms of vegetation dynamics. Although fundamental trade-offs between specific traits and invasibility are well described among terrestrial plants, little is known about their role and function in aquatic plant species. In this study, we exam...

Research on populations of Corynephorus canescens (Poaceae) in the valley of River Ticino. Corynephorus canescens is a plant regarded as endangered species in Italy. The aim of this study was to fill the existing gaps about the knowledge of its distribution within a significant part of its Italian range, by collecting accurate data on the populatio...

Paspalum thunbergii, a weedy species native to E Asia, is reported for the first time from W Europe. In Italy a naturalized population was detected in 2014 in a heathland in Boscaccio (Lentate sul Seveso; Monza and Brianza province, Lombardia region). A subsequent revision of local herbaria revealed the existence of a second population, also in Lom...

The present study reports an analysis on the fl ora of conservation concern growing in the Lake Annone. According to previous studies and to novel data, thirty-three taxa of vascular plants and a taxon of bryophytes (three species of the genus Sphagnum) are known from the lake basin. The existing fl ora was affected by an eutrophication process in...

La pubblicazione raccoglie informazioni scientifiche, tecniche e gestionali legate all'ambiente da cui il Parco Locale di Interesse Sovracomunale "Brughiera Briantea" prende il nome: la brughiera.

Species-rich meadow and pasture habitats are recognised by the European Union Habitats Directive as targets for biodiversity conservation. High species richness is hypothesised to be associated with diversity in plant functional traits and life-history strategies, which are potentially restricted in situations of extremely high and low biomass prod...

Funding Information This work was supported by the ANR project A-BI-ME (Activit es humaines, dynamique et gestion de la BIodiversit e en milieu MEditerran een, ANR-05-BDIV-014, 2006– 2008). Abstract In plant leaves, resource use follows a trade-off between rapid resource capture and conservative storage. This "worldwide leaf economics spectrum" con...

The diversity of orchid species in semi-natural calcareous grassland is thought to depend on floral variability. However, differences in primary life-history strategy, or the overall suite of functional traits, could also affect coexistence. Both primary strategy (affecting day-to-day survival) and reproductive traits (representing periodic events)...

Appendix S1 The FIFTH database: the functional trait values for species in this database were used to produce the PCA and CSR classification during the present study (Microsoft Excel format).

The diversity of orchid species in semi-natural calcareous grassland is thought to depend on floral variability. However, differences in primary life-history strategy, or the overall suite of functional traits, could also affect coexistence. Both primary strategy (affecting day-today survival) and reproductive traits (representing periodic events)...

Three main directions of adaptive specialization are evident in the world flora, reflecting fundamental trade‐offs between economics (conservative vs. acquisitive investment of resources) and size. The current method of ordinating plants according to these trade‐offs, CSR classification, cannot be applied to the woody species that dominate many ter...

a b s t r a c t Fallopia japonica succeeds in invading different ecosystems likely because of its huge biomass production. This biomass is characterized by low nutritional quality and low decomposition rates but knowledge on whether these features are correlated to microbial decomposers is still lacking. The aims of this work were: i) to determine...

Hydrophytes generally exhibit highly acquisitive leaf economics. However, a range of growth forms is evident, from small, free-floating and rapidly growing Lemniden to large, broad-leaved Nymphaeiden, denoting variability in adaptive strategies. Traits used to classify adaptive strategies in terrestrial species, such as canopy height, are not appli...

The survey of nemoral herbaceous plants in the Parco Nord Milano (Lombardy), an urban area almost lacking of natural habitats, showed the occurrence of several species and populations. The conservation of the species is related to the preservation of a permanent woodland cover. The colonization rate in the artificial afforestations was slow and sho...

1. INTRODUZIONE Gli stagni (in inglese pond) sono bacini poco pro-fondi ed estesi (da 1 m 2 a 0,05 km 2) di origine naturale o artificiale, che mantengono acqua anche soltanto per parte dell'anno (De Meester et al., 2005). Non vi è comunque una definizione universalmente accettata che possa distin-guere uno stagno da un piccolo lago (Biggs et al.,...

The general applicability of CSR classification (a methodology for applying CSR theory) has not been tested outside Britain. We hypothesised that principal axes of trait variation for plant species native to southern European continental, sub-alpine and alpine bioclimatic zones correlate with CSR classification scores. Functional traits were quanti...

This study investigated ecological factors affecting species distribution and travertine deposition in an Italian site of the "Natura 2000" network. Vegetation plots were located along four streams in a prealpine valley (Valganna, Lombardy, Northern Italy). Five meso-scale variables (e.g. altitude, aspect and slope) and ten micro-scale variables (e...

The aim of the study is to evaluate the potentiality of four seminatural herbaceous communities (grasslands of Arrhenatherion, Nardo-Agrostion tenuis, Bromion erecti and Polygono-Trisetion alliances) in the Prealpine Lombardy. We quantified the biomass production (stubble height 5 cm), the main bioenergetic features, such as ash, carbon, hydrogen a...

The aim of this work is to evaluate the reproductive strategies in a neophyte, Spiraea japonica L., as means to address efforts in controlling its invasiveness. Collected data and computed analysis showed that successful of S. japonica is mostly related to its high reproductive ability. Most favourable conditions in completing life cycle are largel...

Telekia speciosissima is an endemic chasmophyte of limestone and dolomite boulders in the Lombardy Prealps. It is included in the Italian Red List as a low-risk species. Seed germination dynamics of this plant were studied with the aim of producing germination protocols to use in ex situ conservation and recovery projects. Cold stratification and l...

The aim of this work is to evaluate the contribution of Lombardy Parks to carbon sequestration in the region, as reported in articles 3.3 and 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol. Soil and vegetation carbon pools were estimated through models, based on ecological data collected in the field or reported in the literature. Moreover Net Ecosystem carbon Exchange...

The aim of this work is to evaluate the contribution of Lombardy Parks to carbon sequestration in the region, as reported in articles 3.3 and 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol. Soil and vegetation carbon pools were estimated through models, based on ecological data collected in the field or reported in the literature. Moreover Net Ecosystem carbon Exchange...

The problem of the environmental quality definition has been dealt using vegetation analysis and describer indexes. The study has been carried out over a medium-large scale territory (province of Varese), creating a georeferenced archive. As first step the vegetation map has been realized after photo-interpretation and field surveys. The main map f...

The vegetation of Natural Reserve “Lago di Biandronno” (Lombardy, Northern Italy). This study investigates the vegetation of Natural Reserve “Lago di Biandronno”, mire near by Lake Varese. Main eight groups of vegetations are recognized and ascribed to six phytosociological classes (Alnetea, Lemnetea, Molinio-Arrhenatheretea, Oxycocco-Sphagnetea, P...

Rhabdoweisia crenulata (Mitt.) H. Jameson, found in Piedmont and in Lombardy, is here reported for the first time from Italy. A site description, together with notes on its distribution and ecology, are given.

Occurence of Ditrichum gracile, Hygrohypnum cochleariifolium and Rhabdoweisia crenulata are given as a new for Romania.

Pseudoleskea artariae Thér. is recorded in three new Italian localities. A distribution map is reported for the Insubrian area (Italian-Swiss border). Morphological, ecological and chorological remarks are also given.

During numerous field excursions in the prealpine province of Varese (western Lombardy) 17 species of Sphagnum were recorded in 37 localities. Distributional and ecological notes are given for each species. Two rare species in Italy, namely S. cuspidatum and S. fimbriatum, are reported.