Crosti R., Cascone C., Testa W. (2007) Towards a Weed Risk Assessment for the Italian peninsula: preliminary validation of a scheme for the Central Mediterranean region in Italy. Atti Medecos XI Conference Perth Australia September 2007
La capacità di poter valutare e predire l’invasività di una specie vegetale è fondamentale sia nella conservazione sia nella gestione degli habitat naturali, soprattutto all’interno degli agro ecosistemi. In questi, infatti, la manipolazione antropica ha modificato gli ecosistemi originari producendo molti fattori che favoriscono la creazione di nuove nicchie ecologiche temporaneamente disponibili determinando la radicazione di specie aliene invasive che possono causare danni sia agli habitat semi-naturali sia ai residui di vegetazione spontanea.
Scopo di questo lavoro è la validazione del WRA (Weed Risk Assessment-Phelung et al. 1999) in Italia. Il sistema è già adottato in diversi paesi dove viene utilizzato anche per prevenire l’ingresso e la dispersione di specie potenzialmente nocive.
In agro-ecosystems, where anthropogenic manipulation of the territory for agricultural production has changed the original natural ecosystem, habitat degradation, fragmentation, abandonment of arable lands and altered nutrient cycle are all factors contributing to the creation of new temporary free niches with the subsequent increase of invasive alien plant species. The Department of Environment Protection of the Italian Environment Agency – APAT - is at present investigating the role that alien plant species may have in the loss of biodiversity in vegetation remnants in agro-ecosystems, while at the same time, is also considering the future use of agricultural land for widespread and intensive cultivation of crops for bioenergy production. However, a recent paper highlighted the potential harm, to the environment, of biofuel crops given that their ecological traits are commonly found among invasive plant species. While the biology and ecology of weed species are important aspects that aid recognition of the potential for invasion, an elaborate Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) can help to understand which new cultivation ought to be considered as a potential pest. An attempt of this study was to investigate the possibility of developing a pre-entry screening method for vascular plants, such as a WRA, for the Italian Peninsula. The main aim was to provide decision makers a screening tool to prevent the mass propagation of new plant cultivations that could be potentially invasive.
Link