Search

This book is a guide to the vascular plants occurring in the sector of the southern Carnic Alps (NE Italy) that stretches from Ampezzo to Sauris (Province of Udine), plus the adjoining area in the Province of Belluno which includes M. Bivera, M. Tiarfin and the subalpine meadows around Casera Razzo (1244 infrageneric taxa). The general introduction is followed by an original dichotomous key produced using software FRIDA, illustrated by photographs and ecological-biogeographical notes for all species. The appendix contains some elementary notions of Botany and an index of the scientific names associated with those of the respective families. Il volume è una guida alle piante vascolari sinora note per il settore delle Alpi Carniche meridionali che si estende da Ampezzo alla Conca di Sauris (UD), comprendendo anche un’area in provincia di Belluno che include il M. Bivera, il M. Tiarfin e i pascoli subalpini nei dintorni di Casera Razzo (1244 tra specie e sottospecie). L’introduzione generale è seguita da una chiave dicotomica originale, prodotta utilizzando il programma FRIDA, illustrata da fotografie e note ecologico-biogeografiche per tutte le specie. L’appendice contiene alcune nozioni di botanica elementare e l’indice dei nomi scientifici delle piante associati a quelli delle rispettive famiglie.

Design principles, features, and data exchange options of an open source implementation of single access keys for the collaborative MediaWiki platform are presented.

BIOMONITORING OF TRACE METALS BY LICHENS IN HIGH-RISK AREAS OF FRIULI-VENEZIA GIULIA (NE ITALY). This study is based on the concentrations of 16 metals in peripheral parts of the thalli of the lichen Xanthoria parietina, collected on trees satisfying standard conditions in 155 stations located in the lowlands of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (NE ltaly), previously selected as potential high-risk areas by Regional Authorities. The interpretation of metal concentrations is based upon two maps, showing, for each metal, its distributional pattern and the degree of deviation from background (natural) conditions. The latter has been estimated through a seven-class scale based on the percentile distributions of several hundreds measurements of metal concentrations carried out in foliose lichens throughout Italy during the last ten years, using similar methods. The joint occurrences of all metals in the stations are synthetized by maps based on three indices, an index of naturality (indicating the number of metals with concentrations within normai conditions), an index of environmental alteration (indicating the number of metals strongly deviating from the norm), and an index of potential toxicity (derived from that of alteration, with each metal weighed according to its toxicity). The Central-Southern part of the Province of Udine is the most severely affected by metals in general, while in several other stations single metals strongly deviate from normal conditions. These sites are suggested to the Regional Authorities as focal points for instrumental monitoring of environmental pollution. The introduction includes some basic considerations about epistemological, methodological and terminological matters related to the use of biomonitoring techniques.

In vascular plants radiocesium and K-40 are mostly free in acqueous solution. The expression of radiocontamination on dry weight basis does not take into account the fact that different plant species, or different parts of a species, may have very different contents in cellulose or lignine. These may mask the actual concentration of the radionuclides in plant water, a fact that may be a serious source of error when the aim is to compare absorption rates. This paper, on the basis of a case study on 10 species in the Carnic Alps (NE-Italy), shows how the expression of radiocontamination on a water basis (difference between fresh and dry weight) may be much more appropriate in certain fields of radioecological research.

An updated catalogue of all lichens hitherto known from Italy which includes, for 2704 infrageneric taxa, bibliographic references (from 1993 to 2016) for each of the 21 administrative subdivisions of the country, ecological indicator values, altitudinal distribution, commonness-rarity values in 9 biogeographical areas of Italy, ecological and taxonomical notes, and a list of c. 12.000 synonyms.