Main Article Content
Abstract
Colymbada tauromenitana (Guss.) Holub (Asteraceae) is a rare paleoendemic, chasmophyte species, occurring on calcareous cliffs in the eastern part of Sicily (Italy). The aim of this work is to analyze the structure and floristic composition of the C. tauromenitana community, in order to characterize the diversity of populations in relation to different ecological data. In all, 61 plots were examined. For each plot, the floristic composition and the cover of the species were determined using the standard relevé method. Three vegetation types emerged from canonical components analysis (CCA), correlated to a gradient of environmental conditions ranging from the coast to inland areas. The first group with Lomelosia cretica and Dianthus rupicola subsp. rupicola was correlated to thermo-xerophilous conditions (lower thermo- editerranean belt), the second group with Silene fruticosa and Colymbada tauromenitana was linked to thermophilous conditions (upper thermo-Mediterranean belt) and the third with Dianthus siculus and Odontites bocconei was correlated to mesophilous conditions (meso-Mediterranean belt). Altitude is the main factor influencing both species richness and floristic composition. The density of C. tauromenitana is influenced mainly by rainfall. Finally, we propose a new risk status for this rare species.
Keywords
Article Details
Acta Botanica Croatica is an Open Access journal with minimal restrictions regarding content reuse. Immediately after publishing, all content becomes freely available to anyone for unlimited use and distribution, under the sole condition that the author(s) and the original source are properly attributed according to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
CC BY 4.0 represents the highest level of Open Access, which maximizes dissemination of scholarly work and protects the rights of its authors. In Acta Botanica Croatica, authors hold the copyright of their work and retain unrestricted publishing rights.
By approving final Proof the authors grant to the publisher exclusive license to publish their article in print and on-line, in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-4.0) license.