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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Recurso digital |
| Language: | |
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Zenodo
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3897/ved.182774 |
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Table of Contents:
- <p>Montecristo Island, part of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park and strictly protected since 1971, remains one of the Archipelago's least studied islands in terms of vegetation. The only detailed phytosociological study, conducted in the 1980s, did not address several sporadic or spatially restricted plant assemblages, particularly those occurring on cliffs. Our study examines and classifies these poorly known communities from floristic, ecological, and phytosociological perspectives, and compares them with analogous vegetation across the Tuscan Archipelago to clarify their syntaxonomic position.</p> <p>Forty relevés were collected in 2023–2024 on rock-face habitats using the Braun-Blanquet method. Multivariate analyses identified three distinct chasmophytic-chomophytic vegetation groups. The first consists of high-elevation, north-facing vertical cliffs dominated by <i>Polypodium cambricum</i> and several Montecristo endemics, including <i>Saxifraga montis-christi</i> and <i>Hieracium racemosum</i> subsp. <i>amideii</i>; for these stands we propose the new association <i>Saxifrago montis-christi</i>-<i>Polypodietum cambrici</i>. The second, encompasses low-elevation, thermoxerophilous cliff habitats characterized by <i>Anogramma leptophylla</i> and <i>Asplenium obovatum</i> subsp. <i>obovatum</i>, for which we propose the name <i>Anogramma leptophylla</i> and <i>Asplenium obovatum</i> subsp. <i>obovatum</i> community. The third includes shaded cliffs with ample elevation excluding the extremes, dominated by <i>Cymbalaria aequitriloba</i> and <i>Arenaria balearica</i>, corresponding to the association <i>Arenario balearicae-Cymbalarietum aequitrilobae</i>.</p> <p>Although poorer in species compared to the cliff communities of other Tuscan islands, these habitats contain distinctive bryophytes and several endemic or biogeographically important taxa, fitting within EU Habitat 8220. The study closes a major knowledge gap on Montecristo's rock vegetation and refines the understanding of Tyrrhenian cliff plant communities, proposing syntaxonomical updates above the association level.</p>