Endemic plant species represent the most valuable component of the flora of a given region, due to their restricted distribution and, often, vulnerability to habitat changes. However, understory forest endemics of southern Europe are still poorly known. This hampers the implementation of the EU Biodiversity and Forest Strategy 2030, which poses special attention on rare and threatened species. We thus developed the first list of vascular plant taxa (134) that grow only in Italian forests (1). Functional traits of these taxa are still almost completely unknown. In view of this gap of knowledge, we started a project of functional characterization of selected taxa (ca. 40), focusing on leaf, floral, and below-ground traits associated with different resource-use and ecological strategies. Intraspecific Trait Variation (ITV) was also analyzed in some endemics and compared with sister-non endemic species to infer the levels and directions of functional divergence in each endemic/non-endemic pair and to estimate their phenotypic plasticity under different environmental conditions. 1) F. Selvi, F., G. Campetella, R. Canullo, S. Chelli, G. Domina, E. Farris, C. Gasperini, L. Rosati, C. Wellstein and E. Carrari (2023) The Italian endemic forest plants: an annotated inventory and synthesis of knowledge. Plant Ecology and Evolution, 156 (1), 29-45.
The Italian endemic forest plants: a functional trait analysis
Roberto Canullo;Stefano Chelli;Nicola Postiglione;Francesco Mascia;
2024-01-01
Abstract
Endemic plant species represent the most valuable component of the flora of a given region, due to their restricted distribution and, often, vulnerability to habitat changes. However, understory forest endemics of southern Europe are still poorly known. This hampers the implementation of the EU Biodiversity and Forest Strategy 2030, which poses special attention on rare and threatened species. We thus developed the first list of vascular plant taxa (134) that grow only in Italian forests (1). Functional traits of these taxa are still almost completely unknown. In view of this gap of knowledge, we started a project of functional characterization of selected taxa (ca. 40), focusing on leaf, floral, and below-ground traits associated with different resource-use and ecological strategies. Intraspecific Trait Variation (ITV) was also analyzed in some endemics and compared with sister-non endemic species to infer the levels and directions of functional divergence in each endemic/non-endemic pair and to estimate their phenotypic plasticity under different environmental conditions. 1) F. Selvi, F., G. Campetella, R. Canullo, S. Chelli, G. Domina, E. Farris, C. Gasperini, L. Rosati, C. Wellstein and E. Carrari (2023) The Italian endemic forest plants: an annotated inventory and synthesis of knowledge. Plant Ecology and Evolution, 156 (1), 29-45.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
