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In this contribution, new data concerning bryophytes, fungi and lichens of the Italian flora are presented. It includes new records, confirmations or exclusions for the bryophyte genera Acaulon, Campylopus, Entosthodon, Homomallium, Pseudohygrohypnum, and Thuidium, the fungal genera Entoloma, Cortinarius, Mycenella, Oxyporus, and Psathyrella and the lichen genera Anaptychia, Athallia, Baeomyces, Bagliettoa, Calicium, Nephroma, Pectenia, Phaeophyscia, Polyblastia, Protoparmeliopsis, Pyrenula, Ramalina, and Sanguineodiscus.

In this contribution, new data concerning bryophytes, fungi, and lichens of the Italian flora are presented. It includes new records and confirmations for the bryophyte genera Encalypta, Grimmia, and Riccia, for the fungal genera Hericium, Inocybe, Inocutis, Pluteus, and Russula, and for the lichen genera Bryoria, Farnoldia, Hypocenomyce, Lecania, Paracollema, Peltigera, Sarcogyne, and Teloschistes.

In this contribution, new data concerning red algae, bryophytes, fungi and lichens of the Italian flora are presented. It includes new records and confirmations for the algal genus Thorea, for the bryophyte genera Ephemerum, Hedwigia, Pogonatum, Riccia, Sphagnum, and Tortella, the fungal genera Pileolaria and Sporisorium, and the lichen genera Bacidia, Cerothallia, Chaenotheca, Cladonia, Halecania, Lecanora, Phylloblastia, Physcia, Protoparmelia, Pycnora, Segestria, and Sphaerophorus.

In this contribution, new data concerning bryophytes, fungi, and lichens of the Italian flora are presented. It includes new records and confirmations for the bryophyte genera Barbula, Fissidens, Gymnostomum, Jungermannia, Riccia, and Scapania, the fungal genera Hyalopsora and Urocystis and the lichen genera Arthothelium, Chaenotheca, Lepraria, Lobaria, Miriquidica, Parmelia, Rinodina, Solenopsora, Thelopsis and Xanthoparmelia.

In this contribution, new data concerning bryophytes, fungi and lichens of the Italian flora are presented. It includes new records and confirmations for the bryophyte generaCampylopus,Paludella,Tortula, andConocephalum, the fungal generaAgonimia,Buelliella,Entorrhiza,Filicupula,Poronia, andSporisorium, the lichen generaCladonia,Dibaeis,Lasallia, andRhizocarpon.

The effectiveness of surrogate taxa as ecological indicators for biodiversity assessment and monitoring depends on different factors, such as the spatial scale of analysis. In this study, we explored the effects of the grain size and the choice of predictor variables on the strength of the community congruence relationships among vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens. Community data for these taxa were collected using a restricted random sampling applied in the Bosco di Sant’Agnese Nature Reserve (Tuscany, Italy). Co-correspondence analysis (Co-CA) was performed on two different response communities (e.g. bryophytes and lichens), considering three predictors (presence/absence of vascular plant, abundance of vascular plants and data on the vegetation structure in each plot) for three grain sizes (1 m2, 100 m2 and 10,000 m2). The effects of spatial grain and the type of predictor variable on the strength of the congruence among the considered taxonomic groups were twofold: (i) the amount of explained variance depends on the grain size and on the analysed taxon; it increased with increasing grain size for bryophytes while showing, in general, an opposite pattern for lichens; and (ii) the observed relationships mainly depend on the choice of predictor variables. The highest predictive power for bryophytes was shown by the vegetation structure predictor, while for lichens it was shown by the presence/absence of vascular plants. Our results highlight the importance of plot dimension, the choice of type of data used as predictors and taxon identity in evaluating cross-taxon relationships and provide further insights into the limitations of cross-taxon estimates among vascular plants and cryptogams for biodiversity assessment and conservation planning.

Summary One of the basic tools to quantify biodiversity is based on the use of surrogate species. Such groups of species are easily assessed and may reflect the diversity of other important and less easily detectable taxa (cross-taxon surrogacy). Among these key groups of species, the vascular plant flora has great potential in determining diversity of other groups, since in terrestrial ecosystems it constitutes the bulk of total biomass and provides the physical structure for other organisms. The cross-taxon congruence of species diversity (species richness and species composition) among vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, fungi, oligochaetes, butterflies and birds was investigated with special attention to testing the potential role of vegetation as surrogate for the other studied taxa. The 271 ha Nature Reserve “Bosco di S. Agnese” (Tuscany, Italy) characterised by evergreen Mediterranean woodlands, scrublands, garigues, xeric grasslands and cultivations was used as study area. A multi-scale sampling design, based on a restricted random selection of plots, was used to get information about vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, fungi, oligochaetes, butterflies and birds. The congruence in species richness and composition among the different taxa was tested by Spearman rank correlation coefficient. Most of the pair-wise comparisons showed weak and statistically not significant correlations for both species richness and compositional data, indicating a limited cross-taxon congruence. Species richness of vascular plants was significantly correlated only to that of birds and butterflies. Compositional patterns were congruent only between vascular plants and butterflies. The results of this study indicated that neither vascular plants nor any other taxonomic group is a valid surrogate in this nature reserve.

The effects of the chemical and physical factors associated with geothermal activity on plant community structure and composition were investigated in one of the largest geothermal fields of central Italy. The study site was located in the geothermal area of Sasso Pisano GÇô Monte Rotondo Marittimo, Southern Tuscany. The percentage cover of all vascular plant, bryophyte and lichen species was estimated within 119 circular plots of 0.25 m2. For each plot the soil pH, soil temperature, slope, aspect, incident radiation, soil nitrogen and carbon contents were also quantified. Two vascular plants, Calluna vulgaris and Agrostis castellana, were found to be the most widespread species tolerating the harshest conditions in terms of low soil pH and high soil temperature. The most widespread cryptogam species was Hypnum cupressiforme. Spatially autoregressive models showed that a proportion of about 41GÇô51% of the variance in species richness of one group of plants (vascular or cryptogamic plants) could be modelled by using three or four uncorrelated environmental factors respectively (soil temperature, soil nitrogen and soil C/N ratio and these three plus incident radiation). For the total number of species (vascular and cryptogamic plants), the variance explained by the same three uncorrelated variables was about 57%. This study evidenced a strong environmental control of community composition and species richness, in a site subjected to extreme soil values of soil pH and temperature. The dominance of vascular over cryptogamic vegetation in this geothermal site can be explained by the combined effects of geothermal stress (low soil pH and high soil temperature) with the summer drought typical of the Mediterranean climate