The contents of the course are designed to identify the issues arising at different space-temporal scales for the conservation of plant resources (Why to Conserve). During the second part of the course we will try to answer the three main questions of conservation: What to Conserve, Where to Conserve, How to Conserve. This part will be carried out through examples at the local level considering technical and legislative aspects. Particular emphasis will be given to the Directive 92/43 EEC.
Biondi E., Blasi C. 2010 Manuale Italiano di interpretazione degli habitat della Direttiva 92/43/CEE. http://vnr.unipg.it/habitat/index.jsp Blasi C. et al. (Eds.) 2009 A thematic contribution to the National Biodiversity Strategy - Mapping the Important Plant Areas in Italy. Ministry for the Environment Land and Sea Protection Nature Protection Directorate, Palombi & Partner S.r.l., RomeBlondel J. et al. 2010 The Mediterranean Region. Oxford Univ. Press.Hunter M. L., Jr., Gibbs J. P. 2006 Fundamentals of Conservation Biology, 3rd Edition Wiley-BlackwellIUCN, 2013. Guidelines for using of IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 6.1. Prepared by the Standard and Petition Working Group for the IUCN SSC Biodiversity Assessments Sub-Committee in 2013. Downloadable from http://app.iucn.org/webfiles/doc/SCC/RedList/RedListGuideline.pdf.Ladle R.J. & Whittaker R.J. 2011 Conservation Biogeography. Wiley-Blackwell.Newton A.C. 2007 Forest Ecology and Conservation. Oxford, Univ. Press.Planta Europa, 2008. A sustainable Future for Europe; the European Strategy for Plant Conservation 2008-2014. Plantlife International (Salisbury, UK) and the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, France). Final consultation, January 2008.Primack R.B. & Carotenuto L. 2003 Conservazione della Natura. Zanichelli, Bologna.Rossi R. & Vos W. 1993 Criteria for the identification of a Red List of Mediterranean landscapes: three examples in Tuscany. Landscape and Urban Planning, 24: 233-239.Vos W. & Stortelder A. 1992 Vanishing Tuscan Landscape. PUDOC, Wegeningen.
Learning Objectives
Knowledge of the evolution of the concept of conservation especially in relation to the changing paradigms in the eological theories Understanding of the major threats at the Biosfera level that threats the plant reourses; Understanding of the major problems affecting plants species and habitats distribution and consistence; Skills to allocate and characterize the major connections among anthropogenic activities, the local populations of plant species and habitats; evaluate the local resourses of plants and habitats; evaluate the major threats and delineates priorities of intervention
Prerequisites
Courses to be used as requirements (required and/or recommended)Courses recommended: Botanica, Ecologia, Vegetation Science
Teaching Methods
LecturesSeminarsLaboratory-field/practice
Further information
Frequency of lectures, practice and seminars: not required but strongly recommended
Type of Assessment
Group work around an issue that concerns the management of the plant resources of a site visited during the exercitation. The performance of this part of the examination will take place through the creation of a presentation. Single evaluation through discussion of the issues raised in the work group.
Course program
Introduction to the Biosphere problems with particular reference to the plant. Atmospheric pollution and plants. Climate change. The exploitation of tropical forests. The biological invasion of alien species. Why to conserve. The values of nature with particular reference to the values of the plant component. Worth and Value. Biodiversity: Issues in the application of the term. The science of preservation choices. From the protection of the conservation and the management of plant resources. What to conserve, where to conserve and ow to consrve: the three main questions that attempts to answer the Science of Conservation. Species (populations), habitats, landscapes: three levels of the hierarchy of nature to which direct attention. The rare and vulnerable species: connections and differences. Some scales of vulnerability. The IUCN categories. The Red List. Problems in applying the parameters required by the IUCN. Some examples of plant species. Habitats: concepts and issues. The worthy of preservation under the Habitats Directive. The position of the EEC and the Region of Tuscany: two examples of choices of what and where to keep. The problems of how to conserve. Relations between "technics and science of conservation." The red Landscapes. The example of the Mediterranean. Ager -saltus-sylva- and dehesa-montado. α-, β- and γ- diversity and the two different management models