Corresponding author: Gianmaria Bonari (
Subject editor: Silvia Del Vecchio
The importance of wetlands for biodiversity conservation is widely recognized. Their relevance is crucial in the identification of habitat types included in the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC and in the application of the following conservation measures. Yet, several montane and submontane areas are poorly investigated from the phytosociological point of view. Here we studied aquatic communities of the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines in Italy using 52 vegetation plots dominated by hydrophytes collected in wetlands of natural and artificial origin. We analysed our data using a cluster analysis and identified 12 vegetation types that we classified as three vegetation classes
Aquatic habitats are highly relevant for plant diversity conservation, especially considering the worldwide degradation of natural aquatic ecosystems and their species richness decline (
In this context, phytosociological investigations of freshwater plant communities are essential for determining habitat types, typical species, and, finally, prioritisation of conservation (
The study area lies in the north-eastern Apennines between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna regions (Central Italy, Fig.
Study area and its position in respect to Italy (inset in the upper right corner). White circles are the sampled sites (N = 23).
Our dataset is composed of all the published (N = 6) and unpublished (N = 46) relevés dominated by hydrophytes from the area. It includes 23 sampling localities. The published data include small wetlands in the high Marecchia Valley (
We analysed a matrix of 52 relevés × 38 species using a cluster analysis in R environment (
Plant species names mainly follow the Portal to the Flora of Italy (2021), while the syntaxonomic nomenclature of classes, orders and alliances, including the names derived from the genus
The dendrogram resulting from the cluster analysis (Fig.
Cluster dendrogram of our data encompassing 52 relevés of aquatic vegetation of montane and submontane areas of Northern Apennines (Italy).
The communities dominated by
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Rel. n. | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Site reference | A | C | C |
Relevé area (m2) | 10 | 4 | 2 |
Total cover (%) | 100 | 100 | 90 |
Number of species | 1 | 2 | 9 |
Number in the dendrogram | 33 | 32 | 31 |
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Rel. n. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
Site reference | Pr | G | G | G | G | G | T | T | MC | G | Pi | Pi | LI | LI | LPe |
Relevé area (m2) | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
Total cover (%) | 20 | 100 | 95 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 95 | 80 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 90 | 90 |
Number of species | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Number in the dendrogram | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 51 | 52 | 50 |
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The association
In the study area, in agreement with literature, the community develops under the water surface covered by a floating layer of
The association
The association
According to several authors (
Our relevés can be classified to the association
In the study area, the association P
The association
Rel. n. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
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Site reference | LPe | Cam | Pi | Pi | PS | T | T | Me | Mv | T | LV | Cast | Cast | Cast | Me | Me | Me | Poz | Poz | Be | Cam | ErN | To | T | LPi | Be | PS | St | Prt | Prt | Mv | PS | PStr | PStr |
Relevé area (m2) | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 16 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
Total cover (%) | 100 | 50 | 80 | 50 | 100 | 95 | 90 | 80 | 80 | 95 | 70 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 60 | 70 | 100 | 95 | 80 | 100 | 85 | 100 | 90 | 80 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Number of species | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
Number in the dendrogram | 49 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 47 | 48 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 44 | 43 | 41 | 42 | 45 | 46 | 1 | 2 |
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Several vegetation types identified in the study area can be referred to as habitats of conservation interest (
The assignment of vegetation types to habitat types included in the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC is not always straightforward. For example, species of the genus
Almost all vegetation types belonging to the
The interpretation of the communities with
Our study highlights the diversity of montane and submontane aquatic habitats of Northern Apennines. Interestingly, this diversity is hosted in natural and non-natural wetlands thus suggesting that conservation of azonal aquatic vegetation, when carefully planned and at favourable environmental conditions, can be, to some extent, pursued also by means of (semi-)artificial wetlands.
Charetea intermediae F. Fukarek 1961
Lemnetea O. de Bolòs et Masclans 1955
Potamogetonetea Klika in Klika et Novák 1941
We thank Kateřina Šumberová for her comments on a previous version of this manuscript and Flavia Landucci for the help with the syntaxonomic nomenclature. We are grateful to the staff of the National Park of Foreste Casentinesi, Mount Falterona, Campigna and to the office Carabinieri Biodiversità Pratovecchio for supporting the investigations in their territories and for the photo. We thank Rosaria D'Oria and Giorgio Kioussis who helped in data collection, and Mc Conaghy Charlotte for the English proofreading.
This work was supported by the Open Access Publishing Fund of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.
Viciani et al. Contribution to the knowledge of aquatic vegetation of montane and submontane areas of Northern Apennines. Plant Sociology.
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A | Asqua | 43.796964, 11.782587 | 727 | Small lake | ||
Be | Beccia | 43.708008, 11.916856 | 951 | Small ponds | ||
C | Campigna | 43.874481, 11.743633 | 1,166 | Pond | ||
Cam | Camarelle | 43.685020, 12.107370 | 954 | Ponds | ||
Cast | Lago di Castelnuovo | 43.646771, 12.081608 | 541 | Lake | ||
ErN | Eremo Nuovo | 43.819104, 11.887456 | 893 | Small lake | ||
G | Gorga Nera | 43.877920, 11.684562 | 1,29 | Pond | ||
LI | Lago degli Idoli | 43.864074, 11.691800 | 1,374 | Small lake | ||
LPe | Lago delle Pescaie | 43.573863, 11.988761 | 536 | Lake | Relevés from |
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LPi | Lago Pianacci | 43.722407, 11.903239 | 628 | Lake | ||
LV | Lago del Vinco | 43.716096, 11.910387 | 801 | Small lake | ||
MC | Monte Cavallo | 43.674691, 12.100705 | 768 | Ponds | ||
Me | Metaleto | 43.789484, 11.815124 | 899 | Small lake | ||
Mv | Monte Verde | 43.676265, 12.122311 | 1,028 | Small lake | ||
Pi | La Pianca | 43.740200, 12.115532 | 1,03 | Ponds | Relevés from |
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Poz | Pozzolo | 43.667496, 12.114135 | 910 | Pond | ||
Pr | Pratelle | 43.738875, 11.986408 | 969 | Ponds | ||
Prt | Pratalino | 43.720983, 11.928446 | 966 | Small lake | ||
PS | Poggio Sambuco | 43.691791, 12.106996 | 1,001 | Small lake | ||
PStr | Pozza delle Strosce | 43.614585, 11.948222 | 1,345 | Small pond | ||
St | Stammerina | 43.802265, 11.861270 | 1,11 | Pond | ||
T | Laghetto Traversari | 43.807336, 11.819495 | 1,077 | Small lake | ||
To | Il Toro | 43.719856, 11.951316 | 1,032 | Pond | ||