New national and regional Annex I Habitat records: from #26 to #36

New Italian data on the distribution of the Annex I Habitats 1510*, 2130*, 2250*, 3180*, 3260, 5230*, 6410, 7140, 7220*, 9320 are reported in this contribution. Specifically, 14 new occurrences in Natura 2000 sites are presented and 20 new cells are added in the EEA 10 km × 10 km reference grid. The new data refer to the Italian administrative regions of Abruzzo, Apulia, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Marche, Molise, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany and Umbria.


Introduction
We are halfway through the 5th (2019-2024) six-year periodical Habitat reporting. The section might be beneficial in representing a collaborative and scientifically validated tool for collecting updated distribution data on the habitats. To date, 36 are the contributions for 90 new cells of EEA 10 km x 10 km Reference grid and 48 new occurrences in Natura 2000 Sites. This is the sixth contribution reporting records of new occurrences of Annex I Habitats in Europe. By comparing the results of the 4th Report ex-Art. 17 of Annex I Habitat Monitoring in Europe (Eionet 2019), these cell occurrences are newly recorded for Italy. The related phytosociological relevés of each contribution are reported and archived in the Italian database "VegItaly" (Gigante et al. 2012;Landucci et al. 2012).

Habitats records
Following the standard format of Gigante et al. (2019a), all species data, site data and descriptions of the new habitat records are hereafter provided. We report a synthetic overview in Tab. 1. We used the open-source QGIS Geographic Information System (QGIS.org 2020) for mapping purposes.  Coordinates: unknown [Tab. 1 in Biondi et al. (2001), Rels 8 and 9]; Italy, Sardinia, Nuoro, Posada, Stagno di Posada, Coordinates: unknown [Tab. 1 in Biondi et al. (2001), Rel. 14]; Italy, Sardinia, Sassari, Porto Pozzo, Coordinates: unknown [Tab. 5 in Biondi et al. (2001), Rels 1, 2, 6, 7]; Italy, Sardinia, Sassari, Porto Liscia, Coordinates: unknown [Tab. 5 in Biondi et al. (2001), Rels 3,4,5]. Cells ID in the EEA reference grid: 10kmE427N197 (Tab. 2, Rels 1 to 7); for the published data, although precise coordinates are not available, relevés can be localized with precision enough to point out the corresponding cells: 10kmE428N197 (Tab. 1, Rels 3 to 7, 12 and 13 in Biondi et al. 2001); 10kmE429N194 (Tab. 1, Rels 8, 9 and 14 in Biondi et al. 2001); 10kmE426N201 (Tab. 5, Rels 1 to 7 in Biondi et al. 2001) (Fig. 1). Natura 2000 Site Code: currently not included in any Natura 2000 Site. Phytosociological table: Tab. 2 (unpublished relevés); taxonomic nomenclature according to Bartolucci et al. (2018); published relevés: Tab. 1 (Rels 1 to 14) and Tab. 5 (Rels 1 to 7) in Biondi et al. (2001). Notes: Based on species occurring, structural characteristics, and ecology, we referred these communities to the priority Habitat 1510* (Biondi et al. 2004 Bartolucci et al. (2018) and Galasso et al. (2018), and later updates. Notes: This priority habitat is present on sandy stabilized dunes and it is distributed in Apulia Region along the Adriatic and Jonian coasts (Brullo et al. 2001, Forte 2001, Forte et al. 2002, Biondi et al. 2006, Tomaselli et al. 2010, Perrino et al. 2013, Medagli et al. 2015, Veronico et al. 2017, Eionet 2019. The recorded community is located in the recently established Regional Natural Park "Costa Ripagnola", between Mola di Bari and Polignano a Mare,     and it is placed in an isolated site along the calcarenitic coast, on sandy-silt deposits derived from the erosion of the rocks, as described in Biondi et al. (2006). Until the establishment of the Regional Park, the principal threats to which the site was exposed have been tourism, fire and agricultural practices. The diachronic analysis of orthophotos from 2005 to 2015 highlights the reduction of the community due to fire and plowing; moreover, the possibility to reach the coast by car increased the pressure due to tourism exploitation. The high distance from other Adriatic coastal juniper communities, distributed on Gargano and Salento, confers to this formation a relict character.
In a recent study on the conservation status of Italian coastal dune habitats (Prisco et al. 2020), the overall assessment of 2250* results Unfavorable-Bad for all the considered criteria (range, area, structure and function, future prospects).  "Piani di Montelago", included in the SPA IT5330028 "Valle Scurosa, Piano di Montelago e Gola di Pioraco". Phytosociological table: #29a Tab. 8 in Biondi and Ballelli (1995); #29b Tab. 1 in Pedrotti (1978). Notes: Although this habitat's inclusion in Annex I was originally based on Irish reports only (European Commission 2013), its occurrence is nowadays acknowledged in Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany, Estonia, Slovenia, and Croatia, in several Biogeographic Regions (Atlantic, Continental, Boreal, Alpine, and Mediterranean), according to the latest Annex I habitats Reporting cycle (Eionet 2013-18). This priority habitat has been mentioned for the first time in Italy by Landucci in the assessment of the habitat "C1.6a Temperate temporary water body", in Janssen et al. (2016), and first reported by Gigante et al. (2019b) at Castel S. Maria plain in central Italy. Then, Castello et al. (2021) reported it at Lake Doberdò in North-East Italy. The two sites here reported are characterized by long-standing flooding in winter, with partial emergence of the bottom sediment in summer (Pedrotti 1978, Biondi andBallelli 1995). As a consequence, the vegetation is strongly affected by the water gradient and the level of the water table, giving rise to a complex of vegetation types typically including phytocoenoses from several alliances: Magnocaricion gracilis Géhu 1961, Ranunculion velutini Pedrotti 1978, Potentillion anserinae Tx. 1947, among the others. In particular, the alliance Ranunculion velutini Pedrotti 1976 seems particularly related to the ecological conditions of temporary flooding affecting this complex Annex I habitat type in Central Italy, however in other areas it can include variously composed mosaics of vegetation types (see the following Habitat Record #30). Both the areas have been investigated in recent years by the authors (unpublished data), confirming the occurrence of the mentioned plant communities; the coordinates of the reference points, missing in the original papers (Pedrotti 1978, Biondi andBallelli 1995), have been registered in the field in areas representative of the habitat variability. Other similar sites occurring along the many Apenninic karstic highlands are certainly to be referred to this priority habitat type, including for instance the plain of Castel S. Maria and the temporary lake close to Grutti, both in the Province of Perugia, in central Italy, at present under investigation by the authors.   Mucina et al. (2016). Geographic information: Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Gorizia, Lago di Doberdò (Lake Doberdò), 4.5 m a.s.l., Coordinates: 45.831078 N, 13.562322 E [Tabs S1, S7, S10 (Rels 2 to 24), S11, S12 (Rel. 1) in Supplementary material 1 in Castello et al. (2021)]. Cell ID in the EEA reference grid: 10kmE459N253 (Fig. 5). Nature 2000 Site Code: SAC IT3340006 "Carso Triestino e Goriziano", SPA IT3341002 "Aree Carsiche della Venezia Giulia". Phytosociological table: Tabs S1, S7, S10 (Rels 2 to 24), S11, S12 (Rel. 1) in Supplementary material 1 in Castello et al. (2021). Notes: This priority habitat, modelled on the temporary lakes of Ireland called "turloughs" and currently reported from other States of the EU (Eionet 2013(Eionet -2018, corresponds to a geomorphological unit (Bunce et al. 2013) in which the seasonal transitions between water and terrestrial conditions result in strongly variable mosaics of communities. The occurrence of the habitat 3180* from the Italian Karst at Lake Doberdò is discussed by Castello et al. (2021). Lake Doberdò is a typical disappearing lake being the result of the emersion of the groundwater: its water regime is strongly variable, with water level fluctuations that can be higher than 6 m at seasonal high water.   Bartolucci et al. (2018) for vascular plants and Aleffi et al. (2020) for mosses. Notes: The interpretation of the communities dominated by Potamogeton species can be critical, since in lentic waters these species are also diagnostic of the habitat 3150 "Natural eutrophic lakes with Magnopotamion or Hydrocharition-type vegetation" according to Biondi et al. (2009). However, in particular ecological conditions like running water with seasonal water fluctuations as in the study sites, the attribution of these communities to the habitat 3260 appears appropriate. The habitat was detected in the central stretch of the Arbia river, where it is well represented. The new occurrences are located not far from the SACs "Monti del Chianti" and "Crete di Camposodo e Crete di Leonina". The presence of this habitat was already known for nearby cells. These new records allow to deepen the knowledge of Habitat 3260 in central-southern Tuscany.   (Fig. 7). Natura 2000 Site Code: currently not included in any Natura 2000 Site. Phytosociological table: Tab. 6; taxonomic nomenclature according to Bartolucci et al. (2018).

Notes:
The forest formations of Laurus nobilis in Sicily have fragmentary and spotted distribution, denoting an evident relictual character (Marino et al. 2014;Romano et al. 2021). From the phytosociological point of view, they are ascribed to Acantho mollis-Lauretum nobilis, an association previously referred to the Arbuto-Laurion nobilis alliance (Gianguzzi et al. 2010), described by Rivas-Martínez et al. (2001) for the Iberian Peninsula and ascribed to Pistacio-Rhamnetalia alaterni. In a more recent study, the same vegetation was re-proposed by Gianguzzi et al. (2016) as a cenosis of the order Quercetalia ilicis and for this reason referred to a new alliance, with Tyrrhenian gravitation, described as Asparago acutifolii-Laurion nobilis Gianguzzi, Cuttonaro, Cusimano & Romano 2016. The first of the new stations, reported in this work, is located on the Tyrrhenian side of the Nebrodi Mountains, between 430-450 m a.s.l., where it covers about 2000 m2. It is localized in the bioclimatic belt of the sub-humid thermo-Mediterranean area, colonizing a cool and shady slope, linked to hydromorphic clayey soils, on a detrital matrix of carbonatic nature (Fig. 8). It is a residual station, which must be added to the other interesting wet sites recently reported for the Nebrodi Mountains (De Castro et al. 2008Gianguzzi et al. 2017;) and for other reliefs of the central-western part of Sicily (Caldarella et al. 2009(Caldarella et al. , 2013(Caldarella et al. , 2021Caruso et al. 2012;Gianguzzi et al. 2009;De Castro et al. 2008. The second station is located near Santa Margherita Belice (SW-Sicily), where there are several nuclei, the largest of which is more than 1.5 hectares (Fig. 9). In this area, characterized by calcarenitic substrates, the laurel has a high potential by building dense phytocoenoses in the valleys and gorges as well as creating hedges and borders between the fields that define agricultural landscapes with high diffuse naturalness that are the result of the long interaction between human history and nature of this area of Sicily .    Bartolucci et al. (2018) and later updates and Aleffi et al. (2020).

Notes:
The finding occurs during the activities of the Interreg ALCOTRA CoBiodiv and GeBiodiv projects.  Pignatti et al. (2017Pignatti et al. ( -2019 and Aleffi et al. (2020). Notes: Two residual monospecific populations of Sphagnum, probably relict of the late glacial period (Brugiapaglia 2007), are found in wet karst sink-hole environment, in the Sibillini Mountains (Central Italy) at an altitudinal range from 1274 m a.s.l. on Pian Grande, to 1332 m a.s.l. on Pian Piccolo (Aleffi and Cortini Pedrotti 1998). Here, they represent the southern limit of the peatbog vegetation of the continental and boreo-alpine European vegetation, and therefore have a great value from a biogeographical point of view. Since this Habitat is located outside its optimum range, it shows a strong impoverishment of the floristic composition and a loss in characteristic/diagnostic species: in fact, it is represented here by small and fragmented plant communities, allowing only a weak formal syntaxonomic classification.       Ten original relevés (Tab. 8) were made according to Braun-Blanquet's (1979) method and the Handbook for monitoring species and habitats of community interest in Italy (Angelini et al. 2016). Relevés 1-8 (Tab. 8), located on Pian Piccolo, can be attributed to vegetation of the Caricion nigrae alliance and interpreted as an assemblage of Aulacomium palustre and Sphagnum subsecundum (according to Biondi et al. 2009), while the relevés 9-10 (Tab. 8), located on Pian Grande, can be attributed to the Caricetum gracilis, within which the carpet of Sphagnum platyphyllum develops (Pedrotti et al. 2004;Venanzoni and Gigante 2007;Aleffi et al. 2016). The bog, in the most flooded core areas, is also characterized by species of Magnocaricetalia elatae, while in the drier external areas is characterized by species of Nardo-Callunetea. The environmental conditions, in which such vegetation develops, involve not only meteoric waters, but also those of groundwater and surface flow, as in minerotrophic fens; moreover, for macroclimatic reasons (i.e. reduction of rainfall), high levels of water stress are reached during the summer period, in which Sphagnum dries completely (Aleffi et al. 2016 Coordinates: 43.127817 N, 12.885968 E (Tab. 9, Rels 1 to 5). Cell ID in the EEA reference grid: 10kmE455N222 (Fig. 12). Nature 2000 Site Code: SAC IT5330020 "Monte Pennino-Scurosa". Phytosociological table: Tab. 9; taxonomic nomenclature for vascular species in accordance with Portale della Flora d'Italia (2021), for bryophytes with Aleffi et al. (2020). Notes: the 7220* stand reported here covers an area of about 50 m2 and is located in a cool and shady gully, below a tree layer dominated by Ostrya carpinifolia Scop. (Fig. 13). Water is permanently dripping also in summer (Fig. 14).
#36. Annex I Habitat: 9320 Olea and Ceratonia forests (Gianguzzi L, Bazan G)    Bartolucci et al. (2018). Notes: The forest communities in Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris (Mill.) Lehr. in Sicily and in the Mediterranean area in recent years have been the subject of phytosociological studies Bazan 2019, 2020), which dealt with the syntaxonomic characterization of these cenoses and their respective distribution. In particular, the wild olive forests of Sicily have been attributed to three distinct associations and referred to two distinct alliances of the Quercetea ilicis class. In fact, two of them (Ruto chalepensis-Oleetum sylvestris Gianguzzi & Bazan 2019 and Chamaeropo humilis-Oleetum sylvestris Gianguzzi & Bazan 2019) denote a thermophilous character (infra-and thermomediterranean bioclimatic belts) and has been ascribed to the Oleo-Ceratonion alliance (order Pistacio lentisci-Rhamnetalia alaterni, both linked to basyphilous substrates; the third association (Calicotomo infestae-Oleetum sylvestris Gianguzzi & Bazan 2019), more mesophilous (mesoomediterranean bioclimatic belt), is instead ascribed to Erico-Quercion ilicis alliance (order Quercetalia ilicis), typical of acidophilous substrates (metamorphites, quartzarenites, etc.). This led to a subsequent update of the distribution of the habitat 9320 in Sicily Rivieccio et al. 2020;Bazan et al. 2021), in the same way as other scrub formations reported for the western part of Sicily and the small islands (e.g., Caldarella et al. 2011;Gianguzzi et al. 2011Gianguzzi et al. , 2012Gianguzzi et al. , 2014aGianguzzi et al. , 2014bGianguzzi et al. , 2015Gianguzzi et al. , 2018Gianguzzi and La Mantia 2009;Figure 14. Detail of the habitat 7220* in the reported stand (Fiuminata, MC); dripping water occurs also in summer. La Rosa et al. 2021;Romano et al. 2006;etc.), leading to an implementation of the 4th Italian Report of Habitats. The reported station is located along the coastal belt of the southern Sicily, falling within the Natural Reserve of Monte San Calogero (Monte Kronio) and the SAC ITA040009 "Monte San Calogero (Sciacca)" (Fig. 16), on carbonate substrates located in the dry thermo-Mediterranean bioclimatic belt (Bazan et al. 2015).