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The growing interest in emerging environmental crisis has increased the level of public attention and the willingness to take part in participatory science projects, commonly defined with the term “Citizen Science”. This phenomenon can be recorded globally in many national contexts, with a prevalence in anglophone and more industrialized countries. In the biodiversity sector, the growing demand for public involvement has been declined in many different ways, with solutions aimed at providing cognitive and participatory tools. Among these, one of the best known is the BioBlitz: a 24-hour event held in a specific place with the aim of listing as many living species as possible. This work presents the data collected during the first two BioBlitzes organized by the Maremma Natural History Museum in 2013 and 2014. Both were made in the area of the San Felice Oasis, near the terminal part of the San Leopoldo ditch. During the BioBlitz, data collected attested the presence of 616 different taxonomic entities, of which 507 were identified at the level of species and 22 at the level of subspecies. The rest were identified at higher taxonomic levels. Eleven alien species, one endemic species, 33 species protected by national and international laws and / or directives and 9 species at risk of extinction were identified.

Additive partition of diversity as standard for the selection of protected areas: the natural reserves network of the Siena province (Italy). Estimating the effects of the spatial components on species diversity represents an important step to establish the conservation “capacity” in a network of protected areas. A clear evaluation on how α, β, and γ diversity are partitioned among and within spatial (and temporal) scales can help us to drive managing decisions and provide methods for monitoring species diversity. Moving from these concepts, a probabilistic sample was applied here: (1) for quantifying plant species diversity at different spatial scales within the network of protected areas existing in the Siena Province (Central Italy); and (2) to evaluate the effects on the species diversity of the whole network due to the addition of two new protected areas (Ripa d’Orcia and Bogatto). Focusing on both common species and those defined as “focal” (included in regional, national or continental “red” lists), our results indicated that species richness of the protected areas differed each other independently from the sampling efforts. Diversity partitioning indicated that most of the diversity within the network is due to larger-scale β-diversity, i.e., the differences in species composition among reserves. Moreover, total β-diversity was decomposed into two components: βarea (due to the differences in area among reserves) and βreplacement (due to the compositional differences across protected areas). βarea was particularly important for all species, while βreplacement was the most important factor for the set of focal species. Noteworthy, the analyzed variation in diversity components due to the inclusion of the two new natural reserves into the network (Ripa d’Orcia and Bogatto) resulted in a proportional increase in βArea for the whole network, and, on the other hand, in a reduction for βreplacement diversity component. Based on these quantitative results, criteria for the selection and the inclusion of protected areas in existing networks of natural reserves (such as the Natura 2000 Network) can be achieved.

Il crescente interesse verso le emergenti crisi ambientali ha aumentato il livello di attenzione del pubblico e la disponibilità a prendere parte a progetti di scienza partecipata, comunemente definiti con il termine "Citizen Science". Questo fenomeno è riscontrabile a livello globale in molti contesti nazionali, con una prevalenza nei paesi anglofoni e maggiormente industrializzati. In campo naturalistico la crescente richiesta di coinvolgimento da parte del pubblico è stata declinata in molti modi diversi, con soluzioni mirate a fornire strumenti conoscitivi e partecipativi. Tra questi, uno dei più noti è il BioBlitz, un evento di 24 ore realizzato in uno specifico luogo, con lo scopo di elencare il maggior numero possibile di specie viventi. Nel presente lavoro si presentano i dati raccolti durante i primi due BioBlitz organizzati dal Museo di Sto- ria Naturale della Maremma nel 2013 e nel 2014. Entrambi sono stati realizzati nell'area dell'Oasi San Felice, in prossimità del tratto terminale del Fosso San Leopoldo. Durante i BioBlitz sono stati raccolti dati attestanti la presenza di 616 entità tassonomiche diverse, di cui 507 sono state identificate a livello di specie e 22 a livello di sottospecie. Le rimanenti sono riferibili a livelli tassonomici superiori. Sono state individuate 11 specie aliene, 1 specie endemica, 33 specie protette da leggi e/o direttive nazionali ed internazionali e 9 specie a rischio estinzione.