Rehabilitation of habitat connectivity between two important marsh areas divided by a major road with heavy traffic

Abstract

‘Vignarca’ is a major road between Piombino and Follonica along the coast in Southern Tuscany, in the Province of Livorno. Until the 1940s, the area crossed by Vignarca was a large marsh, which in turn was the remains of an ancient costal lake (Lake Piombino). Over the years the area was reclaimed, and now only two wetlands remain: one is a typical brackish water marsh (‘orti’) and the other a freshwater marsh (‘Bottagone’) with large areas of reedbeds. These marshes are bisected by the Vignarca road. Since 1991, the marshes have been protected by the WWF by the establishment of the orti-Bottagone Nature Reserve.