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https://doi.org/10.2478/v10184-011-0064-3

Floristic analysis of a high-speed railway embankment in a Mediterranean landscape

Goffredo Filibeck orcid.org/0000-0002-4187-9467 ; Department of Agriculture, Forests, Nature and Energy, University of Tuscia, I-01100 Viterbo, Italy
Paolo Cornelini ; Istituto Sperimentale Ferrovie dello Stato, Roma, Italy; Via Scandriglia 7, I-00199 Roma, Italy
Paolo Petrella ; Via Tuscolana 909, I-00174 Roma, Italy

Sažetak

We analyzed the floristic composition of a 4.5 km-long segment of a high-speed railway in Lazio, central Italy, which travels on an artificial embankment through an intensively-farmed landscape. In total, 287 vascular plant species were recorded. The life-form distribution was found to be similar to that of the regional species pool, with high percentages of therophytes (38%) and phanerophytes (13%). In the chorological spectrum the Mediterranean floristic element prevailed (44%), while alien species were 8% of the flora. The phytosociological spectrum showed a high diversity of characteristic species from the class Stellarietea mediae or its subordinate syntaxa (26%), and in particular from the order Thero-Brometalia (Mediterranean, sub-nitrophilous annual communities). Species from forest syntaxa had a relatively high diversity (9%). These results suggest that the ecological filtering provided by the Mediterranean regional climate controlled species assemblage even in a completely artificial habitat, preventing floristic homogenization: the flora of the studied railway section is only partially »ruderalized«, while it keeps strong links with the regional (semi-) natural plant communities. However, in contrast to what is observed in central and north Europe, the railway sides studied in the present paper do not seem to represent a refugial habitat for rare species from grassland communities, mainly because in Italy semi-natural dry grasslands are still widely represented.

Ključne riječi

anthropogenic; habitat; artificial soil; life-form; railway flora; Lazio; Italy

Hrčak ID:

87482

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/87482

Datum izdavanja:

1.10.2012.

Posjeta: 1.908 *