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Fin dal 2006 abbiamo condotto un monitoraggio biologico nel Parco delle colline di Napoli, utilizzando gli uccelli quali bioindicatori, allo scopo di ottenere un quadro della qualità dell’ambiente. Nel 2008, a causa dell’emergenza creatasi a causa dei rifiuti in Campania, il governo italiano autorizzò l’apertura di alcune discariche in alcune aree della Campania, come la cava del poligono, sita a Chiaiano, all’interno del Parco delle colline di Napoli. Dopo l’apertura della discarica abbiamo continuato il monitoraggio allo scopo di evidenziare possibili alterazioni ambientali. Dai risultati si evince che già dopo un anno dall’apertura della discarica indici ornitologici, come la ricchezza di specie, sono decresciuti e che tali variazioni sono legate a variazioni ambientali, piuttosto che all’eterogeneità paesaggistica.

Two years ago, in consequence of the waste emergency in the campanian region (South Italy), the Italian government authorized the realization of some dumps in different campanian sites, as Chiaiano (Rifle-range’s quarry), inside the Metropolitan Park of the Naples hills. Since the year 2006 was performed a biological monitoring in the park, utilizing birds as bioindicators, providing a picture of the environmental quality and some evaluations regarding the environmental impact of the dump. After the opening of the Chiaiano dump the studies continued to indicate some mitigation actions for to keep the environmental status. Some mitigation of the environmental impacts were pointed out.

Defining a bird species as a ‘forest’ one is often troublesome, owing to the lack of overall ecological knowledge and to differences among regions. In spite of this, in a lot of studies the set of ‘forest’ species is empirically chosen. The authors present an objective measure of the relationship existing, at the Italian national scale, between bird species and woods. Using data of the MITO2000 project (>17000 point-counts), 138 species were scored according to the alpha coefficient of the logistic function linking species-presence and wood-cover. A community index (WBCI), obtained simply as the arithmetic mean of the scores of all present species, has proven (trying it with independent samples) to be strictly linked with the actual degree of wood cover, either at small (e.g. point-count) or large (i.e. 20 km grid Atlas) scale. The WBCI was tested also for its response to various sampling-effort levels, showing stability also with very incomplete data-sets (2/3 the actual species richness). Owing to its stability, specificity, ease, and sensitiveness (allowing to detect also fine temporal habitat change trends), WBCI seems an useful and concise indicator of the complex relationships existing between woodland and birds.

Per la prima volta è stato utilizzato un modello di analisi matematica per valutare la nidificazione del gabbiano corso. I risultati mostrano che la nidificazione del g. corso è più minacciata dalla competizione del g. reale che da pressioni antropiche

The Park of Naples hills (Italy) was instituted by the regional law 17/2003 with the aim of the green area’s safeguard of the town hills. But, in consequence of the waste emergency of the Campanian region, the Italian government decided the opening of a dump in the Park, in Chiaiano. Utilizing the birds as bioindicator, we studied the environmental quality of the whole area before and after the opening of the dump, correlating the avifaunal indices to some landscape indices. Before the opening, generally we note that the various areas of the park were constituted from a fragmented landscape and not many mature faunal communities. The dump site, called Chiaiano wood, is not so different from other areas of the park because of a similar landscape, formed from old chestnut coppices alternated to cultivation and buildings. In this site is important the nesting of some predators, as Falco peregrinus and Falco tinnunculus and of some Chiroptera. This is why the dump might cause the lost of rocky habitats in the Chiaiano wood with a remarkable impact on the ecosystem. The data collected in the first year of the dump’s activity showed some differences, increasing with the time, as the presence of the Herring gulls (Larus michahellis), eating urban waste, appeared in the last months, probably for breaking of the anti-gull nets or for the almost filled dump. The predators are still present, but there is an increase of sinanthropic species, as pigeons, potential vectors of illness. We think that need to continue these studies, because the dump impact shows its effects in longer time.

Comparisons of a zoogeographical kind lead us to assume that the current population of Italian sparrows present in the biogeographical area of Crete may have an even recent anthropochorous origin, since it cannot be ruled out that it may has been introduced onto the island – perhaps even deliberately – in historic times, possibly precisely via individuals of Italian provenance (Masseti & Dinetti, 2009). Moreover, as we know the Venetian dominion over Crete endured for over four centuries, from 1204 to 1669. In this period the island produced wheat, timber for the shipyards, oil, skins, wine and other important trading goods. Above all, however, it boasted a strategic geographical position, unrivalled for the purpose of controlling the navigation routes of the eastern Mediterranean and the trade routes with the Levant. The historic introduction of the Italian sparrow onto Crete and the nearby islands may has been performed intentionally. However it cannot be ruled out that such importation could have occurred passively (Masseti & Dinetti 2009). Bourne (1966), for example, has suggested that the European house sparrows may have accidentally reached the Atlantic archipelago of Cape Verde, between 1922 and 1924, transported passively aboard vessels originating from Europe. In a very similar manner, the species also reached the Canaries (Clarke 2008). In this way, other areas geographically remote in relation to the primary distribution of the species were also colonized, such as the Atlantic archipelago of the Falklands (Hamilton 1944) and the Juan Fernández islands in the Pacific (Summers-Smith 1963). In the light of the genetic data expounded, the intriguing hypothesis of a direct origin from Italy of the current population of P. italiae in the Cretan area could be confirmed. In order to fully resolve the phylogenetic relationship of the sparrow from Crete the our preliminary molecular informations should be integrated with morphological and ecological knowledges. This is a preliminary study, but further intra- and inter-specific investigations will be useful to describe the diversity patterns in this group, with important implications in developing appropriate conservation management strategies.

The umbrella concept is often applied in conservation management but as yet has rarely been tested empirically. Alectoris graeca is endemic in Europe, occurring only in the Balkans, the Alps and the Apennine Italian mountains. This species could be considered a good example of an umbrella species, that is one whose presence can imply broader biodiversity interest. Its European breeding population is relatively small and has undergone a large decline since about 1950 having suffered from habitat fragmentation and loss. The current approach for maintaining viable populations supports management of the species’ habitat. We suggest that this conservation approach for the single species can also favor some other sympatric bird species and biodiversity in general. During 2004-2006, Rock Partridge and its companion bird community were censused in nine study areas from Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park (Southern Italy). The study area consisted of dry and open rocky mountain with grassy patches and low scrubs from 1000 to 1900 m a.s.l. The classification of each site using a model of habitat suitability (including scores for various environmental traits) highlighted some significant relationships between Rock Partridge presence / abundance and suitable habitat on the other side. The species was present in seven out of nine study areas, where the suitability was optimal or good; in the remaining two areas we found a lower value of suitability. In the seven positive sites we also found the highest values of species richness of mountain bird community, ranging from 31 to 62 species: species richness values appeared to be positively correlated with habitat suitability scores. We suggest that Rock Partridge may be considered as a good candidate as an umbrella species, and in appropriate areas therefore be a useful tool for conservation of wildlife in Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, specifically, and potentially elsewhere within the species’ range.

We investigated on the correlation of the habitat fragmentation with bird communities of two Neapolitan parks: Camaldoli and Troisi. The first one is a prevalently wooded park, the second one is characterized by an heterogeneous vegetation and a small lake. We elaborated some landscape indices correlating them with the structure indices of community. The landscape indices show some different values between the two parks, while the structure indices of community are quite similar.

The metropolitan Park of Naples hills (Italy) was instituted by the regional law 17/2003 with the aim of the green area’s safeguard of the city hills. However, in consequence of the waste emergency in the Campanian region, the Italian government decided the opening of a dump in Chiaiano, a quarter located inside the Park. Through the utilization of the birds as bioindicators, we studied the environmental quality of the whole area, correlating the avifaunal indices to some landscape indices. The results show, generally, that the various areas of the park were constituted from a fragmented landscape and not many mature birds communities. The dump site, called Chiaiano wood, was not so different from other areas of the park because of a similar landscape, formed from old chestnut coppices alternated to cultivation and buildings. This is an important nesting site for some predators, as Falco peregrinus and Falco tinnunculus and of some Chiroptera. This is why the dump might cause the lost of rocky habitats in the Chiaiano wood with a remarkable impact on the ecosystem.

Audouin’s Gull shows conservation problems for the localized distribution and small size of the total population. The Campania region, where the Gull from the 80s and over-wintering and breeding since 1993, is situated in a central position between the western and eastern colonies of the range. Precisely in order to better understand the affinity landscape species were analyzed through the Ecological Niche Factor Analysis of the two territories: one historically used: Capo Palinuro, Punta Infreschi and one potential customers, represented by Punta Campanella. Was analyzed also on the nesting of Yellow-legged Gull, direct competitor of the first. Implementation of this model was able to infer important management information on this highly endangered species.

Some years ago was realized a project for the grey partridge reintroduction in Salerno district ( Fusco et. al., 2001), experimenting some techniques constituting a reintroduction model for this species effective on the whole Italian Apennines. One of the critical points of the reintroductions is that the hunting activity, even if legally practised, can to cause the extinction of the installed populations, because of a low carrying capacity of this population on the reintroduction area. Consequently it is necessary to find out some different regulations of the hunting activities and a strong control on the area for the installation of a durable population, self-sufficient and large on the region. Besides previous experience showed that the reintroduction success is due to the connection between the released animal and the surrounding land (VV AA,1985), then we utilized acclimatizing cages against the dispersion for the resolution of this problem. Thank to this work, we acquired a remarkable know- how regarding to the reintroduction techniques of the partridge. In fact we put systems right, based on the eco-ethological characteristics of this species. Particularly the most important aspects considered were : Environmental suitability of the area; imprinting of the breeding animals; social behavior; feeding; minimum dimension of the population; genetic structure; adaptation; predatory pressure; bio-medical aspects. In this work we applied the same reintroduction model in Rocca d’Evandro, town of the Caserta district (South Italy). The practicable analysis showed the necessity of some environmental improvements. Particularly in the flatting areas near the Garigliano river is necessary a wider environmental heterogeneity of the farm-natural landing and a bigger numbers of the hedges and of the scrubbed rows. On the hills the landing structure is suitable, but it is necessary some seeding with autumnal productions to the aim to improve the carrying capacity.

The reproductive biology of the Italian Sparrow is relevant in the formulation of phylogeny hypothesis. In this study we report some evidence that, if combined with other studies, can contribute to outline a profile of the species and to strengthen the hypothesis about the African origin of the Italian Sparrow.

This study is based on the microsatellite DNA analysis of 160 birds from the resident population of the European robin (Erithacus rubecula) in South Italy. It used assignment procedures to study population genetic structure on a seasonal and spatial scale. This population undergoes, twice each year, an altitudinal and intraregional short-distance migration. The present analysis corroborates inference on short-distance altitudinal migratory phenomenon in a resident robin population and suggests that the resident population investigated by us is “faithful” to its intraregional breeding and wintering areas. Our data further indicate that the resident population may represent a distinct genetic entity and suggest that regional ecological features along this geographical area as well as some behavioural characteristics of birds may concur in the maintenance of population separation.

Viene descritto un metodo di analisi del DNA che permette di stabilire il grado di ibridazione col maiale

In Italia il Cinghiale ha subito varie oscillazioni numeriche per immissioni d’esemplari provenienti soprattutto dall'est europeo o da paesi vicini (Massei & Toso, 1993) e incrocio con esemplari di maiale domestico, allevato allo stato brado o semi brado in molte zone d'Italia (Apollonio et al., 1988). Questi fattori sono stati responsabili anche di un impoverimento genetico della forma autoctona italiana Sus scrofa meridionalis e majori che sembrano persistere solo in Sardegna e Maremma (Apollonio et al., 1988). Tra le riserve in cui si ritiene possano trovarsi popolazioni ancora integre, figura la tenuta presidenziale di Castelporziano (Roma). Prendendo spunto da questo lavoro, con il nostro contributo riportiamo i risultati, a livello genetico,della ibridazione con il maiale da parte di cinghiali della Campania, basato sul DNA microsatellite di 4 loci polimorfi. Sono state studiate 9 popolazioni (allevate e libere), usando per riferimenti maiali allo stato brado e cinghiali di Castelporziano. Dall’analisi delle frequenze alleliche è stato eseguito il test di assignment (implementato in una sub routine del software Arlequin 2.0) che individua la possibile origine di un individuo, rispetto ad una rosa di probabili popolazioni di riferimento (Paetkau et al., 1998). Con i risultati del test di assignment si è costruito il grafico log-log genotype, rappresentato da un piano individuato dalle due variabili di riferimento (cinghiale e maiale brado). Le popolazioni esaminate evidenziano una generalizzata distribuzione a cavallo tra i due riferimenti con individui geneticamente simili al cinghiale ed altri al maiale. Questa ripartizione simmetrica è molto evidente nel caso dei cinghiali catturati a Punta Licosa e in quelli dell’allevamento di Polla. La distribuzione dei genotipi sul piano è spesso dispersa, ad eccezione dei cinghiali della Valle del Vento e quelli di Monteverde (individui liberi), che probabilmente rappresentano popolazioni più omogenee. Tra le popolazioni in cui l’ibridazione col maiale sembra maggiore figurano quelle di Padula e Cerreta Cognole (allevamenti), insieme alle popolazioni di Sacco, Monteverde e Baronissi (individui liberi). La sola popolazione di Cuccaro Vetere presenta individui marcatamente assegnabili al genotipo cinghiale (Castelporziano). Data la grande diversificazione delle popolazioni di cinghiale (libere e allevate) si ritiene necessaria una caratterizzazione più estesa e basata su tecniche molecolari prima di effettuare un programma di gestione rivolto a questa specie.