Assessing the habitat conservation status by soil parameters and plant ecoindicators

doi:10.3832/ifor0963-007

Assessing the habitat conservation status by soil parameters and plant ecoindicators

Flavia Sicuriello^(1-2) , Cristina De Nicola⁽³⁾, Giuseppina Dowgiallo⁽³⁾, Anna Testi⁽³⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 7, Issue 3, Pages 170-177 (2014)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor0963-007
Published: Feb 14, 2014 - Copyright © 2014 SISEF

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Geo-mapping

The aim of this study is to evaluate the conservation status of a Natural Reserve through an integrated approach analysing simultaneously soils, lithotypes, land forms, edaphic parameters and plant species. In focusing the relationships between soil and vegetation, plant ecoindicators, expressed by i) the Ellenberg bioindication model and by ii) the Hemeroby Index, and soil measured parameters were utilized.Vegetation and soil data have been collected simultaneously through thirty vegetation relevés and soil profiles. Cluster analysis, performed on matrix 12 variables/ 30 relevés allowed a division into two main clusters, each one divided into sub-clusters, distinguished by floristic composition and soil characteristics. The clusters were markedly discriminated by soil Available Water Capacity (AWC). Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), performed on variables and species matrices, allowed to discriminate two main habitats: i) a core habitat represented by patches of temperate forest correlated to soil cycles of water and nutrients; ii) an ecotonal habitat shaped by mixed evergreen and thermophilous deciduous oak forest depending on light, temperature and human disturbance.

Keywords

Mediterranean Forest Vegetation, Soil, AWC, Ellenberg’s Indicators, Hemeroby Index, CCA

Authors’ address

(1)

Department of Forest Environment and Resources, University of Tuscia, v. S. Camillo de Lellis snc, I-01100 Viterbo (Italy)

(2)

IBAF-CNR, v. Salaria km 29.3, I-00016 Monterotondo Scalo (RM - Italy)

(3)

Department of Environmental Biology, Botanical Garden, “La Sapienza” University of Rome, l.go Cristina di Svezia 24, I-00165 Rome (Italy)

Corresponding author

Flavia Sicuriello
flavia.sicuriello@ibaf.cnr.it

Citation

Sicuriello F, De Nicola C, Dowgiallo G, Testi A (2014). Assessing the habitat conservation status by soil parameters and plant ecoindicators. iForest 7: 170-177. - doi: 10.3832/ifor0963-007

Academic Editor

Raffaele Lafortezza

Paper history

Received: Feb 01, 2013
Accepted: Dec 03, 2013

First online: Feb 14, 2014
Publication Date: Jun 02, 2014
Publication Time: 2.43 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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