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FUN-VIOLA (FUNctional traits of VegetatIOn of centraL Apennines) is a database of field measured plant functional traits for species of Mediterranean high mountain habitats in Central Italy. It includes records of 9 plant traits (Leaf Area, Specific Leaf Area, Leaf Dry Matter Content, Plant Height Vegetative, Plant Height Generative, Leaf Thickness, Seed Mass, Seed Length and Seed Width) of 80 species and subspecies widespread in alpine and subalpine grasslands of Central Apennines. The species were retrieved from the most abundant ones of 139 relevés occurring in the VIOLA Database (http://www.givd.info/ID/EU-IT-019) and sampled in 5 EUNIS habitats type (code E4.436, code E1.54, code E4.38, code H2.4 and code E4.42). Species traits were measured by dedicated field measurements in the years 2017, 2020 and 2021. FUN-VIOLA provides unique information depicting plant functional ecology of alpine and subalpine vegetation in Mediterranean limestone mountains. FUN-VIOLA is included in TRY Plant Traits Database (http://www.try-db.org/TryWeb/Home.php). Abbreviations: EUNIS = European Nature Information System

ABSTRACTWe evaluated the ecological impacts of the invasive alien species (IAS) Acacia salignaon the vegetation composition and structure of two coastal dunes woody habitats of Union concern (2250*: coastal dunes with Juniperusspp. and 2260: dunes with sclerophyllous vegetation consisting of Cisto-Lavanduletalia). We sampled 20 paired plots per habitat type under invaded (A. salignacover > 70%) and non-invaded conditions, following a stratified random protocol. We tested the differences between invaded and non-invaded plots in terms of species composition of the entire species pool and of different ecological guilds and growth forms. Our findings showed that the invaded maquis (habitat 2260) had a significant decline in median richness (5 vs 2) and median cover (24.50 vs 8.00) of focal species and a significant increase in median cover of ruderal species (2.00 vs 5.50). The invaded juniper shrubs (EU habitat 2250*) preserved the typical species composition, but with significant variations in vegetation structure. The approach adopted in this study, accompanied by the results obtained, contribute towards fulfilling EU Regulation 1143/2014 on IAS.Key policy insightsResults reveal worrying levels of biodiversity loss on coastal dunes due to the invasion of the invasive alien species (IAS) Acacia saligna.We detected remarkable changes in the physiognomy of the Mediterranean maquis coastal dunes – a landscape that is losing its biological uniqueness.The spread of A. salignais having negative ecological effects upon the conservation status of two habitats of Union concern (codes 2250* and 2260).Urgent preventive measures, effective control strategies and eradication of A. salignamust be implemented across the Mediterranean Nature 2000 Coastal Protected Areas Network.The approach adopted and results obtained contribute to fulfilling EU Regulation 1143/2014 on IAS.

In the Mediterranean sandy coasts, urban expansion mainly occurs to support seaside tourism, causing a drastic loss of natural coastal dune habitats and the associated ecosystem services. We investigated on a representative tract of the Mediterranean coast to which extent land conversion into urban areas affected natural dune ecosystems and the related recreational Ecosystem Service over 50 years. Using empirical data derived from 591 questionnaires of beach users, we quantified the recreational ecosystem service (ESR) provided by the main dune habitat types of the Adriatic coast (Beach with Pioneer annual Vegetation, Herbaceous Dune Vegetation and Mediterranean macchia). On the basis of detailed multi-temporal land cover maps (years 1954, 1986 and 2006), we quantified the conversion of natural dune habitats into urban areas over time, by means of transition matrices. By combining the results of the assessment of ESRwith the transition matrices, we measured how the natural dune habitats’ loss reduced the related ESRsupply. Results show that although natural dune habitats have an important role as ESRsuppliers, urban expansion eroded them with specific rates, causing a total percent loss of 12% in the ESR. Our work underlines the fragility of natural coastal dunes, which during the last decades have become a privileged destination for touristic and recreational activities and, thus, have been progressively replaced by urban areas, with an unwanted direct impact on their ESRsupply. By combining multi-temporal mapping techniques with ecosystem services measurements, we enhanced our understanding of transformation processes on coastal dunes, offering as well new insights for dune management. According to our results, an effective dune management shall favor natural dune zonation, by welcoming sustainable sea-side recreational activities as the only acceptable form of coastal tourism.

Connectivity determines a large number of ecological functions of the landscape and is a key to understand fluxes of matter and energy within landscape mosaics. Several approaches to quantify landscape connectivity are possible. Nevertheless, a major shortcoming of most connectivity indices is that they do not allow the inclusion of any qualitative difference between adjacent landscape patches in the computation of the index. Within this context, using potential natural vegetation distribution as reference model, we propose a new graph theoretical index ?te), which takes into account the serial or catenal nature of the spatial contacts between adjacent vegetation types. Results derived from the analysis of Circeo National Park coastal communities (Central Italy) showed that from an ecological viewpoint, ? top represents an effective measure to quantify landscape connectivity in an ecologically meaningful way.

This paper deals with landscape change in central Italy. Landscape abandonment is analyzed integrating a transition matrix approach with a symphytosociological method. A transition matrix brings the complete description of the temporal dynamics of a particular landscape over a given time period. However, a well-known shortcoming of most of these analyses is that their results are going to depend non-linearly on the extent of the area analyzed. Therefore, a landscape classification scheme is needed that provides ecologically meaningful units for quantifying different aspects of landscape mosaics and correlate them to environmental processes. Plant sociology has formalized one possible approach for classifying plant communities that is widely used in most European countries for vegetation-based descriptions of landscapes. In this paper, we propose a landscape classification scheme based on Potential Natural Vegetation distribution as a reference framework for quantitative landscape change analysis in a grid-based GIS. A mountainous region of central Italy was selected. First, two 1:10.000 real vegetation maps (1954 and 1986) of the study area and a PNV map were produced. Next, a transition matrix for each PNV unit was calculated. Results show that the use of PNV distribution as a reference for a quantitative landscape change analysis may represent a first step towards a general model for the evaluation of the effects of disturbance on vegetation patterns.

The database of high mountain vegetation of central Apennines, hereafter called VIOLA (GIVD ID EU-IT-019), includes published and unpublished phytosociological relevés of high elevation habitats occurring in central Italy (Gran Sasso, Majella, Matese, Meta, Velino Mountains). VIOLA, digitised into TURBOVEG, is the first standardised and exchangeable database on Mediterranean high-elevation vegetation of Italy. It includes 1687 relevés collected during the period 1955–2014, containing 670 taxa, and such numbers will increase as new vegetation data becomes available. The relevés are distributed above the treeline (between 1600 to 2900 m a. s. l.) and refer to the dwarf shrublands, the oro-mediterranean grasslands and high elevation scree and cliff vegetation. Most of the relevés are georeferenced to different levels of accuracy using information from toponyms, altitude, slope, aspect and, if available, GPS coordinates. We followed Conti et al. (2005, 2007) for the taxonomic attribution and nomenclatural updates of vascular plant taxa and, for solving synonymy problems, we also consulted other national and international vascular plants checklists. For each taxon, the cover/ abundance value recorded in the relevés is reported. In addition, the Ellenberg indicator values, life form and chorotype are described. Where appropriate, the corresponding EC habitat (92/43/EEC Habitats Directive) is assigned to each vegetation relevé. Currently, VIOLA includes vegetation relevés belonging to 7 EC habitats (4060, 4070*, 6170, 6210, 6230*, 8120, 8210). VIOLA offers a sound baseline for carrying out a multitude of ecological studies, and is an efficient tool for analyzing EC habitat distribution over time. Moreover, it provides useful information on shifts in altitudinal distribution of plant taxa resulting from global warming (thermophilization process) and land use changes. The VIOLA database is included in the European Vegetation Archive (EVA, www.euroveg.org) and in the Italian national vegetation database (VegItaly, www.vegitaly.it, EU-IT-001).