Red-list of Italian bryophytes. 2. Mosses

Abstract

The paper provides the first comprehensive, region-wide assessment of mosses, evaluated according to IUCN’s Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional Level. The IUCN Red List criteria were applied to 961 Italian moss taxa to assess their current extinction risk and to highlight the major threats affecting the Italian moss flora. Overall, 246 moss taxa assessed in this study are assigned to a risk category and, therefore, considered threatened in Italy, with a percentage of 28.6%. One species is considered Regionally Extinct and 15 species Possibly Extinct at regional level. A further 5.8% are categorized as Near Threatened, 10.6% as Data Deficient and 56.0% as Least Concern. Most threats are co-occurring, indicating that many taxa are subjected to a set of correlated adverse processes. The main IUCN major threats identified were Climate Change and Natural System Modifications (mostly dams and water management and use). Considering the overall Italian bryophyte flora, 330 taxa (246 mosses, 83 liverworts, and 1 hornwort) are considered threatened with extinction at Italian level (29.0% mid-point value), five species are classified as RE and 18 as CR(PE); moreover, 84 taxa are NT (6.6%) and 130 are considered as DD (10.3%).