eco.mont – Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Management, Vol. 11 / No. 1

Species inventories represent a key instrument by which the biodiversity of an area can be better understood and are essential in developing optimal management plans for conservation. We present an annotated checklist of the butterfly fauna (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea) of the Special Area of Conservation Alpi Veglia – Devero – Monte Giove, in the northwestern Italian Alps. The checklist represents the result of research carried out by the authors from 2003 to 2018. We identified 107 species (36.9% of the entire Italian butterfly fauna), eight of which are reported for the first time in the study area. Four species (Erebia christi, Maculinea arion, Parnassius apollo, P. mnemosyne) represent taxa of conservation concern that are included in the European Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC. We recorded a notable percentage (12.2%) of Alpine endemic species and a high number of species of the genus Erebia (17 species, 15.9%), including two highly localized Alpine endemics: E. christi and E. flavofasciata. We report new localities for these two species, discuss in more detail 19 species of particular interest, and for all species we provide information about their distribution and conservation status in the study area.

Schlagworte: Alps, conservation, Erebia christi, Erebia flavofasciata, Lepidoptera, Veglia-Devero Natural Park

Linaria tonzigii is a rare steno-endemic species of Community interest that grows on some limestone screes in the Orobie Bergamasche Regional Park (Italian Alps). Information is scarce regarding its ecology (and especially synecology) and its Grime’s CSR functional strategy. For this reason, this research, as well as analysing the floristic composition and ecology of the L. tonzigii community by means of traditional methods, also evaluated the Grime’s CSR strategy of this endemic species using the latest methods and tools. Analysis of the phytosociological relevés conducted in five different areas revealed that the species constitutes a single plant community (the Linaria tonzigii-Hornungia alpina community) consisting of basophile and xerophile species mostly typical of limestone screes. The analysis of the CSR strategy revealed that the mean strategy of L. tonzigii is R / CSR, although the species presents slightly different strategies in the different sampling areas. This article reports the first ever data regarding inter-population variation in plant functional strategies in nature and suggests that the functional variability of the species is much wider than had been thought. The analysis of plant height of L. tonzigii also showed that the population isolated at the northern limit of the species’ distribution range has significantly taller and less stress-tolerant individuals than those in other areas, suggesting that it may be a different ecotype. This article aims to stimulate researchers to study little-known endemic species in order to protect and valorize the biodiversity of protected areas.

Schlagworte: Linaria tonzigii, endemic species, CSR strategy, ecological indices, alpine plant, Orobie Bergamasche, Lombardy

This article engages with conceptions of equity and justice in protected area negotiations and ties in with recent scientific discourses on the importance of social equity for successful biodiversity conservation. I follow the question of how conceptions of justice shaped discussions surrounding a national park project in Switzerland, Parc Adula. The project was rejected in a public vote in 2016. Drawing on qualitative interview data, this article analyses park negotiations and sheds light on a plurality of senses of justice. Whereas Parc Adula as a bottom-up project based on direct democracy already respected just procedures, perceptions of (in-)justice still informed day-to-day discussions and disputes. Thus, I argue that understanding justice as a process that reveals itself in disputes, and acknowledging its plurality, can help understand struggles over conservation and regional development.

Schlagworte: justice, equity, protected areas, Parc Adula, Switzerland

This paper presents a combination of architectural and geographical methods for studying the abandonment of Alpine cultural landscapes. It examines the afforestation of hay meadows above the Uskovnica Pasture in the Bohinj Mountains in Slovenia’s Julian Alps. Written sources on the intensity of changes are rare for mountainous areas, and so auxiliary means can be used as indicators. These include abandoned architectural elements, such as the hay barns discussed here. This paper presents a classification of the levels of decay of these buildings, which were used to store fodder over the winter. It uses them as an innovative indicator of changes in the cultural landscape. The study presents the results of a comprehensive, long-term examination of a disappearing cultural heritage: hay meadows in a sensitive protected mountain area of the Alps.

Schlagworte: Geography, architecture, land abandonment, hay meadows, wooden hay barn, cultural heritage, Uskovnica Pasture, Slovenia

Biodiversity has gained huge importance as a fundamental concept for environmental conservation, yet the physical support of biodiversity (e. g., soils, landforms and geological units, recognized as geodiversity) remains little observed within the scientific community. At the same time, advances in effective biodiversity conservation in critical hotspots, as in Central Chile, are limited due to the lack of public lands, direct impacts on biodiversity like urban sprawl and wildfires, and the weakness of governance approaches for effective conservation planning. Here we discuss possibilities for improving bio(geo)cultural conservation in Mediterranean Central Chile through a landscape approach.

Schlagworte: geoheritage, landscape conservation, ecosystem resilience, biogeocultural conservation, Biosphere Reserves, natural monuments

Climate change is a scientific topic rarely addressed in Swiss protected areas. Starting from a survey of the spatial distribution of research projects addressing climate change in protected areas derived from Parkforschung.ch data, this report highlights some of the main issues that climate change science is facing in developing research interest in the field. The sources of information are expert interviews carried on during 2018.

Schlagworte: geography of science, protected areas, Switzerland, climate change research, epistemic communities, research networks