Mountain hut managers as observers of overtourism in natural areas: Perceived tourism carrying capacity in the Italian Alps

Typology of Alpine region using spatial-pattern indicators

Laricifomes officinalisis a wood-decay fungus that is closely associated with old individuals ofLarix decidua. In the twentieth century,L. officinaliswas over-harvested because of its medicinal properties; consequently, it has become very rare or almost extinct in the Alps. In this study, we investigated the population ofL. officinalisin the Alpe Veglia–Alpe Devero Natural Park (Val d’Ossola, Italy) to assess a preliminary conservation strategy. Population consistency was estimated using field mapping, and spatial analysis was performed on host trees based on topographical and environmental variables. Mycelia were isolated from harvested basidiomata, and strain identity confirmed by molecular analysis of the ITS region. All isolated strains were tested for growth in Petri dishes containing different standard media to determine which strains had the highest growth rates; the fastest growing strains may be selected for future studies and applications.Compared to the control strains from Val Malenco and Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso, all strains from Alpe Veglia–Alpe Devero Natural Park had lower growth rates. There was no significant difference between the growth rates of strains from Alpe Veglia and those from Alpe Devero.The results suggest that the population consistency ofL. officinalisin the Alpe Veglia–Alpe Devero Natural Park is related to two main factors: habitat preservation and harvesting prohibition. These results confirm the need to protectL. officinalisboth inside and outside natural reserves, despite the apparent increase in local populations.

The influence of human disturbance on occupancy and activity patterns of mammals in the Italian Alps from systematic camera trapping

Assessing the effects of access policies on travel mode choices in an Alpine tourist destination

Mountain ecosystems are exposed to multiple anthropogenic pressures that are reshaping the distribution of plant populations. Range dynamics of mountain plants exhibit large variability with species expanding, shifting, or shrinking their elevational range. Using a dataset of more than 1 million records of common and red-listed native and alien plants, we could reconstruct range dynamics of 1,479 species of the European Alps over the last 30y. Red-listed species were not able to track climate warming at the leading edge of their distribution, and further experienced a strong erosion of rear margins, resulting in an overall rapid range contraction. Common natives also contracted their range, albeit less drastically, through faster upslope shift at the rear than at the leading edge. By contrast, aliens quickly expanded upslope by moving their leading edge at macroclimate change speed, while keeping their rear margins almost still. Most red-listed natives and the large majority of aliens were warm-adapted, but only aliens showed high competitive abilities to thrive under high-resource and disturbed environments. Rapid upward shifts of the rear edge of natives were probably driven by multiple environmental pressures including climate change as well as land-use change and intensification. The high environmental pressure that populations encounter in the lowlands might constrain the ability of expanding species to shift their range into more natural areas at higher elevations. As red-listed natives and aliens mostly co-occurred in the lowlands, where human pressures are at their highest, conservation should prioritize low-elevation areas of the European Alps.

Evaluating Tourist Perception of Environmental Changes as a Contribution to Managing Natural Resources in Glacierized Areas: A Case Study of the Forni Glacier (Stelvio National Park, Italian Alps)

This chapter presents the mapping of ecosystem service hotspots in the city of Trento, in the Italian Alps, and discusses the possible uses of the results to support the drawing of the new Urban Plan. Hotspots are defined as areas characterized by high levels of provision of multiple services. Particularly, the following ecosystem services were selected: biodiversity support, risk mitigation, mitigation of air pollution and noise from transport infrastructures, forest landscape value, food production, nature-based recreation, and microclimate regulation. Maps of the different ecosystem services were produced using a variety of assessment methods, and then overlaid to obtain a multiple-hotspot map. The results show that hotspots are found not only among forests and natural areas surrounding the city, but also in the intensely urbanized valley floor (e.g., within agricultural patches and green wedges). In terms of policy relevance, the ecosystem service hotspots are becoming part of the “structural elements” of the Urban Plan currently being drafted, along with more traditionally recognized elements, such as protected areas. The hotspots are intended to be preserved from urbanization and different actions are under consideration to improve the current network of green and blue spaces, thus increasing both connectivity and the provision of ecosystem services.

AimClimate warming and increasing human disturbance are expected to promote non‐native plant invasions in mountain ecosystems. Although biological invasions are also expected to be modulated by biotic interactions, it is still not clear how invertebrate herbivores can affect plant invasion dynamics. Using a large manipulative experiment, we aimed at testing: (1) the effect of soil disturbance and elevation on native and non‐native plant communities, and (2) the effect of plant‐herbivore interactions, nitrogen deposition, and elevation in driving plant establishment after soil disturbance.LocationEuropean Alps, NE Italy.TaxonVascular plants.MethodsWe selected remote, uninvaded dry semi‐natural grasslands along the core elevational range of non‐native plants in the European Alps (c. 100–1300 m) and manipulated soil disturbance, nitrogen deposition, and invertebrate herbivory. Then, we followed the natural establishment under real field conditions of both native and non‐native plants over one growing season. We used generalized mixed‐effects models to test the effects of the experimental treatments.ResultsNative and non‐native species showed contrasting responses to soil disturbance and elevation. Low elevations and disturbance promoted non‐native success, while affecting native species diversity negatively. Two‐thirds of the experimental sites acquired novel non‐natives after disturbance. Most of the observed non‐natives were not present in the surrounding vegetation as mature plants, indicating that propagules were able to reach even remote natural areas. While current N deposition levels did not affect plant establishment, we found that after disturbance invertebrate herbivory might play an important role in facilitating non‐native invasions by reducing native cover.Main conclusionsOur findings show that highly resistant ecosystems such as continuous grasslands can be easily invaded once the resident vegetation has been removed, and that natural herbivory pressure from invertebrates might amplify the negative effects of disturbance on resident native species irrespective of elevation. Together, these results indicate increasing risks of future plant invasions on mountains under global change.

To meet the COP15 biodiversity framework in the European Union (EU), one target is to protect 30% of its land by 2030 through a resilient transnational conservation network. The European Alps are a key hub of this network hosting some of the most extensive natural areas and biodiversity hotspots in Europe. Here we assess the robustness of the current European reserve network to safeguard the European Alps’ flora by 2080 using semi-mechanistic simulations. We first highlight that the current network needs strong readjustments as it does not capture biodiversity patterns as well as our conservation simulations. Overall, we predict a strong shift in conservation need through time along latitudes, and from lower to higher elevations as plants migrate upslope and shrink their distribution. While increasing species, trait and evolutionary diversity, migration could also threaten 70% of the resident flora. In the face of global changes, the future European reserve network will need to ensure strong elevation and latitudinal connections to complementarily protect multifaceted biodiversity beyond national borders.

Dwarf mountain pine, Pinus mugo, is an important component of the subalpine and alpine zone in Europe. For several years, in one of the natural areas of the occurrence of this species in the Polish Tatras, an intensified decline of the assimilation apparatus has been observed. The studies conducted in 2016–2020 were aimed at determining the types of disease symptoms occurring on P. mugo needles and at identifying the species composition of fungi within symptomless and diseased needles. We isolated 57 taxa from 6 types of disease symptoms and from needles without disease symptoms, identified on the basis of morphological features and molecular analyses. Absolute parasites were represented by only one species of Coleosporium senecionis, which was identified by the aecium stage. The genus Lophodermium was represented by three species: L. conigenum, L. corconticum and L. pini-mugonis. So far, L. corconticum was known only from the Karkonosze Mountains in Poland, and L. pini-mugonis from the German Alps. In addition, the more frequently isolated species included: Sydowia polyspora, Hendersonia sp., Nemania serpens, Leptomelanconium allescheri, Cladosporium spp., Biscogniauxia nummularia and Alternaria spp. Some taxa were associated with only one type of disease symptom, while some species of fungi were found to be associated with different symptoms. Twelve species of fungi were isolated from living symptomless needles, some of which were subsequently found in association with nectrotic areas on needles, e.g., Lophodermium corconticum, L. conigenum and Leptomelanconium allescheri. L. pinastri has not been found in the present studies. In the discussion, an attempt was made to assess the role of some of the identified species of fungi in causing the disease process of P. mugo needles.

Plant-diversity hotspots on a global scale are well established, but smaller local hotspots within these must be identified for effective conservation of plants at the global and local scales. We used the distributions of endemic and endemic-threatened species of Myrtaceae to indicate areas of plant diversity and conservation importance within the Atlantic coastal forests (Mata Atlântica) of Brazil. We applied 3 simple, inexpensive geographic information system (GIS) techniques to a herbarium specimen database: predictive species-distribution modeling (Maxent); complementarity analysis (DIVA-GIS); and mapping of herbarium specimen collection locations. We also considered collecting intensity, which is an inherent limitation of use of natural history records for biodiversity studies. Two separate areas of endemism were evident: the Serra do Mar mountain range from Paraná to Rio de Janeiro and the coastal forests of northern Espírito Santo and southern Bahia. We identified 12 areas of approximately 35 km(2) each as priority areas for conservation. These areas had the highest species richness and were highly threatened by urban and agricultural expansion. Observed species occurrences, species occurrences predicted from the model, and results of our complementarity analysis were congruent in identifying those areas with the most endemic species. These areas were then prioritized for conservation importance by comparing ecological data for each.

Knowledge of resource selection patterns can provide important information for species conservation. During spring 2010 and 2011, we investigated habitat selection by territorial rock ptarmiganLagopus muta helveticamales in a protected area of the western Italian Alps. We located males from 30 randomly selected survey points, and we measured the proportions of cover‐type categories found within a 37‐ha area surrounding each observed bird using three classification maps of differing information and resolution. We also evaluated physical variables (altitude, slope and solar radiation) associated with the birds using a 75‐m digital terrain model. We modelled land cover and physical attributes under these three alternative land‐classification maps. The lowest resolution map, based on the Corine land‐cover map, did not have high predictive value because only orographic variables described the presence of birds; in our case, we found a negative effect of slope and a positive effect of altitude on presence of ptarmigan. The next higher resolution map, a local forest resource map, showed that slope had a negative effect and rocky grasslands had a positive effect on ptarmigan presence. Finally, using the highest resolution map, a phytosociological map of our Natural Park study area, the best‐ranked models were those having only cover‐type variables, with alpenroseRhododendron ferrugineumand blueberryVaccinium myrtillusscrubland and pioneer vegetation negatively correlated with the presence of rock ptarmigan. We concluded that a staged approach that uses maps of differing detail was successful for obtaining useful information on rock ptarmigan habitat selection, but the most interesting results about rock ptarmigan habitat selection at the scale of breeding territories were obtained only using a very detailed vegetation map. Because such detailed information is difficult to obtain on larger scales, we suggest wildlife managers cooperate to build similar mapping tools that allow analyses similar to ours.

Abstract. Alluvial fans of alpine torrents are both natural deposition areas for sediment discharged by floods and debris flows, and preferred sites for agriculture and settlements. Hazard assessment on alluvial fans depends on proper identification of flow processes and their potential intensity. This study used LiDAR data to examine the morphology of the alluvial fan of a small alpine stream (Moscardo Torrent, Eastern Italian Alps). A high-resolution DTM from LiDAR data was used to calculate a shaded relief map, plan curvature and an index of topographic roughness based on the standard deviation of elevation within a moving window. The surface complexity of the alluvial fan, also influenced by human activities, clearly arose from the analysis. The surface roughness, defined here as the local topography variability, is compared with a previous classification of the fan surface based on field surveys. The results demonstrate that topographic analysis of ground based LiDAR DTM can be a useful tool to objectively investigate fan morphology and hence alluvial fan hazard assessment.

Evaluation of ecosystem services in a protected mountain area: Soil organic carbon stock and biodiversity in alpine forests and grasslands

The living commons of West Tyrol, Austria: Lessons for land policy and land administration