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Article
Open AccessWill natura 2000 european network of protected areas support conservation of Southwestern Alps endemic flora under future climate?
Networks of protected areas (PAs) are globally recognized as playing a key role for in situ conservation of species. Despite a high potential for biodiversity conservation, PAs may not mitigate the current bio...
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Article
Open AccessDealing with disjunct populations of vascular plants: implications for assessing the effect of climate change
Species distribution models are the most widely used tool to predict species distributions for species conservation and assessment of climate change impact. However, they usually do not consider intraspecific ...
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Article
Kudzu in Europe: niche conservatism for a highly invasive plant
Niche dynamics represent an important element in predicting potential invasion areas of alien species and their impacts as well as in understanding mechanisms underlying invasion success. Pueraria lobata, commonl...
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Article
Open AccessTopography of the Dolomites modulates range dynamics of narrow endemic plants under climate change
Climate change is expected to threaten endemic plants in the Alps. In this context, the factors that may modulate species responses are rarely investigated at a local scale. We analyzed eight alpine narrow end...
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Article
Interactions between land use, pathogens, and climate change in the Monte Pisano, Italy 1850–2000
Climate change, land use change, invasive species, and pests can combine to cause changes in species distributions. However, unlike climate change, future land use and ecological interactions are unpredictable...
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Article
Open AccessEffects of environmental heterogeneity on phenotypic variation of the endemic plant Lilium pomponium in the Maritime and Ligurian Alps
Geographical limits of species’ distributions are assumed to be coincident with ecological margins, although this assumption might not always be true. Indeed, harsh environments such as Alpine and Mediterranea...
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Article
Open AccessClimate change and the future of endemic flora in the South Western Alps: relationships between niche properties and extinction risk
Climate change seriously threatens biodiversity, particularly in mountain ecosystems. However, studies on climate change effects rarely consider endemic species and their niche properties. Using species distri...
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Article
Reproductive biology of the threatened Lilium pomponium (Liliaceae), a species endemic to Maritime and Ligurian Alps
Pollination ecology and breeding system of Lilium pomponium L. were studied, and their effect on the reproductive outcome was assessed. This species has high conservation interest in Europe, because it is include...
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Article
Reproductive biology of an Alpic paleo-endemic in a changing climate
Climate change is known to have a profound influence on plant reproduction, mainly because it affects plant/pollinator interactions, sometimes driving plants to extinction. Starting from the Neogene, the Euro...
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Article
Knowing the past to forecast the future: a case study on a relictual, endemic species of the SW Alps, Berardia subacaulis
Future climate change may lead to a substantial loss of biodiversity, particularly affecting mountain regions, including the Alps. Range-size reduction in high mountain plant species is predicted to be more pr...
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Article
Pollination ecology in the narrow endemic winter-flowering Primula allionii (Primulaceae)
Reduction of pollen flow can affect plant abundance and population viability and cause selection on plant mating system and floral traits. Little is known on the effect of this phenomenon in species naturally ...
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Article
Spatial Genetic Structure of Campanula sabatia, a Threatened Narrow Endemic Species of the Mediterranean Basin
Campanula sabatia is endemic to NW Italy (Liguria) and it was included in the European Red list of endangered species due to the heavy human pressure on its habitat. AFLP markers were used to det...
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Article
Open AccessPolyploid evolution and Pleistocene glacial cycles: A case study from the alpine primrose Primula marginata (Primulaceae)
Recent studies highlighted the role of Pleistocene climatic cycles in polyploid speciation and of southern Alpine refugia as reservoirs of diversity during glacial maxima. The polyploid Primula marginata, endemic...
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Article
Genetic structure of Rhamnus glaucophylla Sommier endemic to Tuscany
Rhamnus glaucophylla Sommier is an endemic small tree or shrub belonging to sect. Eurhamnus. It grows on cliffs of the Apuan Alps and of the Lucca Apennine in Tuscany (Italy). ISSRs were ...
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Article
The flower biology of Daphne gnidium L. (Thymelaeaceae)
Daphne gnidium is a circum-Mediterranean evergreen shrub. Flower and pollen features related to pollination mechanism were analyzed, and the seasonal presence of insects visiting the plan...
