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Patterns and trends of declining reed-beds in four freshwater ecosystems in central Italy are investigated through an aerial orthoimagery-based diachronic analysis over a period of 24 years. Extent variations and retreat from the waterfront are detected in all sites, compensated only in few cases by backwards enlargements. These shape and size modifications suggest that reed die-back is associated with retreat and with a notable fragmentation process. Long-term analysis performed in one of the sites, compared to water levels, shows a drastic extent decrease co-occurring with an artificial rise of the water level, confirming the regulation of freshwater bodies as a driver of biodiversity loss. Results also suggest that reed-dominated ecosystems may reach a threshold of tolerance towards stressing conditions beyond which they cannot regenerate. The carried out study testifies for a valuable role of landscape metrics in analysing the spatial processes related to declining reed-beds. Spatial metrics prove to be a suitable tool in monitoring processes, working as early warning signals of ongoing decline and helping to model future changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common reed Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. is one of the most widely distributed angiosperms with important ecological functions. In recent decades, it has been affected by a severe decline known as reed die-back syndrome (RDBS), the causal factors of which are still under investigation. Among the biotic factors that influence the dynamic of the reed population, the role of microorganisms is still poorly understood. During surveys carried out on P. australis populations in Central Italy, Claviceps-like sclerotia were detected: is Claviceps infection related to P. australis sexual reproduction and seed production? Could Claviceps infection be involved in the RDBS? These are the questions that we address. We characterized the sclerotia at the morphological, molecular, and chemical level and we demonstrated that they belong to Claviceps arundinis Pažoutová & M. Kolařík. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. arundinis on P. australis in Italy. Furthermore, the association of C. arundinis with RDBS was evaluated considering a set of macromorphological traits generally related to RDBS, such as P. australis clumping habit, culm height and diameter. No correlation was seen between the occurrence of C. arundinis and the declining status of reed populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, research in botany was increasingly related with the use of large data-sets and data banks, in order to address emerging issues such as the severe risk of species, habitats and biodiversity loss. In this frame, theanArchivetaxonomic Checklist, an online synonymized list of botanical species names, developed to support the botanical data banking and vegetation analysis, is presented and discussed here. The benefits deriving from such a supervised and referenced tool are emphasized. They include the possibility to keep track of old and new species names, pointing out the latest reviewed accepted scientific name and its synonyms, and harmonizing different taxonomic points of view. Furthermore, the list is open access and expert qualified customers can collaborate to its improvement. The basic unit of the taxonomic Checklist is an object including thetaxonname at specific or, when present, infraspecific level; the taxonomic frame stops at the level of family and ranks higher than genus are not treated hierarchically. Some technical features, the main taxonomic references and the current state of the art are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study reports results relating to the identification of wood samples from pile dwellings discovered during the archaeological excavation of the Middle-Final Late Bronze Age pile dwelling of San Savino (Lake Trasimeno, PG, Italy). Anatomical descriptions and identification of 16 wooden piles were performed by microscopic evaluation. In this study, the speciesQuercus petraea(Matt.) Liebl.,Quercus roburL. andPrunus spinosaL. were identified. For two samples, no precise identification of the species was carried out; however, these samples showed significant similarities toUlmusspp. In addition, among the charcoal fragments, some have been identified asFagus sylvaticaL. The detectedtaxareflect a species assemblage matching with a temperate deciduous mixed forest and, with reference to the current climate, it might be referred to conditions ranging from the mesotemperate to the Meso-Submediterranean bioclimatic belts. New information about the interactions between man and vegetation was provided. In fact, the wood species used in the construction of the Bronze Age pile-dwelling settlement in San Savino reflect a sensible choice; people living in that time period had solid knowledge and experience in the use of wood. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study, we validated some syntaxa, the published names of which were regarded as invalid on the basis of the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature. The validations concern syntaxa of different hierarchical levels, belonging to different phytosociological classes. Most validations regard syntaxa that are invalid with respect to art. 5 of the Code. Indeed, the nomenclatural types were not indicated in the correct form (typus, holotypus, lectotypus, and neotypus). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two years after its official start, the national vegetation database VegItaly, a collaborative project supported by the Italian scientific community and developed by a large group of scientists, is presented. This article offers a concise overview of the content of the database, currently consisting of 31,100 vegetation plot, including published and unpublished data. Some basic statistics are analysed; for example, data distribution in space and time, represented vegetation types expressed as physiognomic categories. Although rather young and still in progress, VegItaly already contains data from all the Italian regions and stands as an optimal candidate for the development of an Italian national vegetation database. Its main goals,theoretical basis, technical features, functionalities and recent progresses are outlined, showing glimpses of future prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]