Lorenzo Lastrucci

• Biosystematics and vegetal ecology PhD
• University of Florence

Freshwater ecosystems are crucial for biodiversity conservation. They are among the most threatened habitats in the world. However, the wetlands of southern European mountains still lack fine-scale plant community studies. Here we studied submontane and montane palustrine communities of the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines. Data from 123 vegetation plots d...

Wetlands are among the world’s valuable ecosystems for biodiversity conservation, but they are also among the most threatened habitats, heavily impacted by human pressures and threats. The Mediterranean basin features numerous small lakes, ponds, and pools, whose number and quality are decreasing at an alarming rate, and whose biodiversity is often...

New localities and/or confirmations concerning 104 specific and subspecific plant taxa of Tuscan vascular flora, belonging to 95 genera and 45 families are presented: Baldellia (Alismataceae), Amaranthus (Amaranthaceae), Allium, Ipheion (Amaryllidaceae), Aethusa, Ferula, Magydaris, Trochiscanthes (Apiaceae), Vinca (Apocynaceae), Lemna (Araceae), Ar...

Wetlands are among the most valuable ecosystems on the planet for biodiversity conservation, but also among the most threatened habitats in the world, strongly affected by human pressures and threats. The Mediterranean basin features numerous small lakes, ponds and pools, whose number and quality are decreasing at an alarming rate, and whose biodiv...

News from Herbarium of Florence (FI) Focus on the Herbarium of Natural History Civic Museum of Brescia (HBBS) Notes on the botanist Michelangelo Minio

First contribution to the knowledge of the flora of the Roman Amphitheater of Arezzo (Tuscany, Italy). The first results of the floristic collections underway at the Roman Amphitheater of Arezzo, an urban archaeological area so far unexplored from a botanical point of view, are presented. The floristic analysis highlights an almost equivalent divis...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, exclusions, and status changes from casual to naturalized or invasive for Italy or for Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Acacia, Akebia, Allocasuarina, Aloë, Brachychiton, Convolvulus, Freesia, Gled...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and exclusions to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Alchemilla, Carex, Chenopodium, Cistus, Convolvulus, Erysimum, Euphorbia, Festuca, Klasea, Lotus, Orobanche, Poa, Stellaria, T...

The first results of a herbariological study on the genus Callitriche L. at the Central Italian Herbarium (Herbarium Centrale Italicum) of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence are presented. This genus represents a critical group from a systematic and taxonomic point of view, as the diagnostic characters mainly consist in det...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records and status changes from casual to naturalized for Italy or for Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Callianthe, Chamaecyparis, Chamaeiris, Cotoneaster, Erigeron, Freesia, Hemerocallis, Juglans, Kalancho...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and exclusions to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Anacyclus, Anthyllis, Bolboschoenus, Catapodium, Festuca, Hordeum, Lavandula, Ophrys, Pseudopodospermum, Rosa, Sorbus and Sper...

Herbaria are an important source of data and material useful in many fields, including plant conservation. Seeds preserved in herbarium specimens may have the potential to germinate, although few studies focused on this topic. Here, the first systematic assessment of six techniques, including priming techniques and melatonin application, aimed at i...

Trait‐based ecology has already revealed main independent axes of trait variation defining trait spaces that summarize plant adaptive strategies, but often ignoring intraspecific trait variability (ITV). By using empirical ITV‐level data for two independent dimensions of leaf form and function and 167 species across five habitat types (coastal dune...

Typha shuttleworthii W.D.J.Koch & Sond. in W.D.J.Koch (1844: 786) is a species distributed in Central and Southern Europe, from France to Ukraine (Leonova 1976; Cook 1980) as well as Turkey and Iran (Baytop 1984; Hamdi et al. 2009) but it may have been overlooked due to its resemblance to the better known Typha latifolia Linnaeus (1753: 971), espec...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and exclusions to the Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrigenda are provided as supplementary material.

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records and status changes from casual to naturalized for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as supplementary material.

Understanding how environmental conditions and plant functional variation are mutually related is critical to improving our comprehension of plant adaptations. In this context, our knowledge of the interlinks between plant functional, spectral and genetic traits and environmental filters is still very limited, especially for wetland species. To gai...

Both genetic and phenotypic intraspecific diversity play a crucial role in the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of organisms. Several studies have compared phenotypic divergence ( P st ) and differentiation of neutral loci ( F st ) to infer the relative roles of genetic drift and natural selection in population differentiation ( P st – F st com...

Both genetic and phenotypic intraspecific diversity play a crucial role in the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of organisms. Several studies have compared phenotypic divergence (Pst) and differentiation of neutral loci (Fst) to infer the relative roles of genetic drift and natural selection in population differentiation (Pst - Fst comparison)....

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as Suppl. material 1.

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and exclusions to the Italian administrative regions. New combinations in the genera Pilosella and Roemeria are proposed. Furthermore, the name Papaver siculum is lectotypified. Nomenclatural and distri...

Invasive alien species are among the main global drivers of biodiversity loss posing major challenges to nature conservation and to managers of protected areas. The present study applied a methodological framework that combined invasive Species Distribution Models, based on propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors for 14 invasive alien plant...

Identifying areas susceptible to invasion by an alien species is a strategy of prevention. We used national herbaria and global databases to assess the invasion trends of the two aquatic invasive species Ludwigia hexapetala and Ludwigia peploides subsp. montevidensis in Italy. We defined the invasion status with invasions curves and predicted poten...

New localities and/or confirmations concerning 85 specific and subspecific plant taxa of Tuscan vascular flora, belonging to 68 genera and 36 families are presented: Amaranthus (Amaranthaceae); Allium (Amaryllidaceae); Bifora, Bupleurum (Apiaceae); Arisarum (Araceae); Maianthemum, Ruscus (Asparagaceae); Bidens, Crepis, Galinsoga, Senecio, Taraxacum...

As reflectance measured via remote sensing is connected to plant light use and morpho-structural features, it can be used to derive spectral proxies of functional traits, or spectro-functional traits. Focusing on disentangling intraspecific trait variability in nature, we evaluated the links between haplotype and spectro-functional traits in Phragm...

As reflectance measured via remote sensing is connected to plant light use and morpho-structural features, it can be used to derive spectral proxies of functional traits, or spectro-functional traits. Focusing on disentangling intraspecific trait variability in nature, we evaluated the links between haplotype and spectro-functional traits in Phragm...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and status changes to the Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrigenda are provided as Suppl. material 1.

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as Suppl. material 1

We analysed the invasion history of two North American macrophytes (Elodea canadensis and E. nuttallii) in Italy, through an accurate census of all available herbarium and field records, dating between 1850 and 2019, and a rich literature collection describing the initial introduction and naturalisation phase that supports the results obtained by t...

In this work, we evaluated whether the species Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc. can be a promising material for devising reliable eco-toxicological tests for Cd-contaminated waters. Plants of M. aquaticum were exposed to Cd, using different concentrations (1 mg L ⁻¹ , 2.5 mg L ⁻¹ , 5 mg L ⁻¹ , and 10 mg L ⁻¹ ; experiment 1) and exposure times...

The importance of wetlands for biodiversity conservation is widely recognized. Their relevance is crucial in the identification of habitat types included in the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC and in the application of the following conservation measures. Yet, several montane and submontane areas are poorly investigated from the phytosociological poin...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and exclusions to the Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrigenda are provided as Suppl. material 1.

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1.

Genista radiata is a dwarf/low orophilic shrub having a fundamentally southern European distribution. In Italy, it can be found in different ecological contexts, often giving rise to diversified coenoses. Due to its ecological plasticity, G. radiata communities have been considered sometimes as simple dynamic variants of grasslands aspects, sometim...

Eleocharis mamillata subsp. austriaca belongs to Eleocharis subser. Eleocharis. The presence of this entity in the Italian territory was known for almost all the Alpine administrative regions and for Calabria. According to the Portal to the Flora of Italy, this entity was reported for Piedmont based on erroneous records. Nevertheless, during a wide...

Narrow endemic plants constitute a pivotal group for conservation, being often reduced to a small contingent of individuals and frequently threatened. However, effective conservation actions require reliable basic information about distribution range, ecological requirements, and population traits. Nevertheless, such knowledge results are incomplet...

This study aims to investigate, for the first time, the multiple diversity harbored in plant communities dominated by P. australis, discriminating between lentic and lotic habitats. We focused on the incidence of alien species on taxonomical, phylogenetic and functional diversity. Although it was hypothesized that ecological differences between hab...

In this study, we carry out a revision of the Italian specimens belonging to Juncus L. subgenus Agathryon Raf. sect. Tenageia Dumort stored in the Herbarium Centrale Italicum of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence. By re-examining the 650 specimens present, we find that all the taxa belonging to this section are present in t...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1.

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes to the Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrigenda are provided as Suppl. material 1.

The freshwater aquatic vegetation of the Lemnetea and Potamogetonetea classes in Western Sicily was surveyed and analyzed. 85 lakes and small pools were investigated collecting 147 phytosociological unpublished relevés to integrate the very scarce available data (only 3 relevés). By applying statistical analyses on abundances data and on the bases...

Odoardo Beccari (1843–1920) is considered to be one of the more important Italian naturalists of the nineteenth century, in particular for his pioneering explorations of the Malaysian Archipelago. During this period, he collected many thousands of botanical, zoological and ethno-anthropological specimens which are now conserved in natural history m...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1.

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes to the Italian administrative regions. A new combination in the genus Pilosella is proposed. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrigenda ar...

In this work, we evaluated whether the species Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc. can be a promising material for devising reliable ecotoxicological tests for Cd contaminated waters. Plants of M. aquaticum were exposed to Cd, using different concentrations and exposure times, in order to address as many possible effects as possible of its presen...

Odoardo Beccari was one of the most important Italian naturalists in the second half of the 19th century, and a pioneer in Southeast Asia wildlife exploration. His Malesian Herbarium, kept in Florence, with more than 16,000 of exsiccata and hundreds of type specimens, represents the main legacy of his travels and scientific activity. While the 100t...

Aims We investigated whether individuals of Silene paradoxa L., grown in serpentine and non-serpentine soils, displayed variation in functional traits and adaptive strategies together with a differentiation of the gene pool. We hypothesised that individuals growing in serpentine sites may be exposed to a higher degree of stress, resulting in measur...

In Europe the genus Bolboschoenus has recently undergone many taxonomic revision studies, but in Italy a review of the materials conserved in herbaria, in accordance with the most recent taxonomic literature, was still missing. The aim of this study was therefore to review Bolboschoenus species from Italy, based on herbarium data. The specimens dep...

Invasive alien plants are a major threat to biodiversity and they contribute to the unfavourable conservation status of habitats of interest to the European Community. In order to favour implementation of European Union Regulation no. 1143/2014 on invasive alien species, the Italian Society of Vegetation Science carried out a large survey led by a...

I am glad to announce that the special issue “Multiple Roles of Alien Plants in Aquatic Ecosystems: from Processes to Modelling” of Frontiers in Plant Science is now available and freely accessible. A warm thank goes to my co-editors Lorenzo Lastrucci, Giuseppe Brundu and Andreas Hussner that helped me to manage this "editorial enterprise". Thanks...

An updated and annotated catalogue of the vascular plants reported for the Arezzo administrative province (eastern Tuscany, Italy) is presented. The study tries to fill the gaps existing in the data at the sub-regional administrative scale, addressing relevant taxonomic and distribution issues, important not only at local level. The catalogue was c...

In this study, we investigated the removal of Fe(III), Cr(VI), Al(III), diclofenac, and levofloxacin from treated wastewater in the presence of the free-floating plants Azolla filiculoides and Lemna minuta, to understand whether these species can be effectively used in a surface flow constructed wetland as wastewater refining treatment. Fe and Al w...

This study provides a first step toward the knowledge of the alien-dominated and co-dominated plant communities present in Italy. The first ever checklist of the alien phytocoenoses described or reported in literature for the Italian territory has been compiled, produced by data-mining in national and local thematic literature. The resulting vegeta...

The conservation status of plant species is an important tool for their effective conservation, but it has been evaluated only in a low number of taxa up to now. In this frame, the national assessment of Juncus atratus Krock., a Central European-South Siberian wet meadow species, is here provided. J. atratus is a rare and threatened species in Cent...

We studied the secondary succession in semi-natural grasslands (dry grasslands and hay meadows) located in the eastern side of the Tuscan Apennines (Tuscany, Central Italy). We compared these habitats, investigating: (i) the changes in species richness, composition and phylogenetic diversity during the succession; (ii) whether the trends in species...

Prunus serotina is one of the worst invasive alien plants throughout Europe, able to rapidly replace autochthonous vegetation and form monospecific stands both in open lands and forested areas. Invasion by shrubs and trees due to abandonment of traditional management practices, is one of the major threats to the conservation of “European dry heaths...

L'articolo riporta dati preliminari sullo studio erbariologico di revisione dei campioni appartenenti al genere Bolboschoenus (Asch.) Palla in Italia.

Vengono presentate nuove località e/o conferme relative 75 taxa specifici e sottospecifici di piante vascolari della flora vascolare toscana, appartenenti a 67 generi e 41 famiglie: Delosperma (Aizoaceae), Dysphania (Amaranthaceae), Leucojum, Nothoscordum (Amaryllidaceae), Bupleurum, Coriandrum (Apiaceae), Araujia (Apocynaceae), Lemna (Araceae), Hy...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Ajuga , Chamaemelum , Clematis , Convolvulus , Cytisus , Deschampsia , Eleocharis , Epipactis , Euphorbia , Gr...

Despite that congruence across taxa has been proved as an effective tool to provide insights into the processes structuring the spatial distribution of taxonomic groups and is useful for conservation purposes, only a few studies on cross-taxon congruence focused on freshwater ecosystems and on the relations among vascular plants and lichens. We hyp...

The census of the loci classici of 1,227 native, non-endemic vascular plants described from Italy is here presented and described. The effective place of publication of accepted names, basionyms and homotypic synonyms were identified and critically verified. The geographic information on the loci classici was excerpted from the protologues, as well...

Zannichellia peltata Bertoloni (1854: 10) was described in the 10th volume of Flora Italica. This is one of the two species of Zannichellia Linnaeus (1753: 969) that he recorded from Italy (the other being Z. palustris Linnaeus [1753: 969]). Antonio Bertoloni (1775−1868) described the species based on a Gasparrini collection from the vicinity of Ro...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions of taxa in the genera Abies, Actinidia, Aloe, Amaryllis, Anredera, Arctotheca, Bidens, Cardiospermum, Celosia, Commelina, Cotoneaster, C...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations and status changes to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Acer , Alchemilla , Andrachne , Bromus , Clinopodium , Colchicum , Damasonium , Erodium , Festuca , Hieracium , Hyparrhenia...

New data concerning the distribution of the 92/43/EEC Directive's Annex I Habitats 3160, 3170*, 3240, 4090, 6110*, 6510, 9540 in Italy are reported. They include four new occurrences in Natura 2000 Sites and 12 new cells in the EEA 10 km x 10 km Reference grid. This is the first contribution focused on reporting about new national and regional Anne...

Research and Methods applied Reynoutria x bohemica is an invasive species, causing significant damages to native ecosystems in North America and Europe. In this work, we performed an in‐depth micromorphological characterization of the extrafloral nectaries (EFN), during their secretory and post‐secretory phases, in combination with field monitoring...

This work aims to increase the floristic knowledge of southern Tuscany by means of a floristic investigation which took place in the Miniera di Murlo (southern Tuscany, Italy). The study area, located in the province of Siena, has an extension of 2.26 km 2 and hosts a heterogeneity of habitats like rocky outcrops, woodlands, meadows and riparian fo...

We conducted a phytosociological study of the particular coenoses with presence of Cirsium alpis-lunae, a strictly endemic species living in marly-arenaceous montane screes of the Apennines between Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Marche. We surveyed all the reported locations and analyzed the coenological and ecological features of the communities by m...

An analysis of Italian herbarium specimens belonging to the genus Azolla was carried out using optical microscope and SEM techniques. According to recent international reviews, three micro-morphological characters have been considered for the specimen analysis: (i) number of leaf trichome cells, (ii) septation of glochidia and (iii) features of the...

Mountain wetlands are among the most vulnerable habitats in the Mediterranean basin. Their conservation requires knowledge of plant species assemblages and their environmental drivers. In this study, we investigated what are the main environmental factors driving species composition in mountain wetlands and what are the differences in environmental...

New localities and/or confirmations concerning 57 specific and subspecific plant taxa of Tuscan vascular flora, belonging to 42 genera and 25 families are presented: Chenopodium, Polycnemum, Salsola (Amaranthaceae), Torilis (Apiaceae), Hieracium, Tragopogon (Asteraceae), Mahonia (Berberidaceae), Lepidium (Brassicaceae), Campanula (Campanulaceae), H...

The Mt. Argentario promontory (southern Tuscany, Italy) is a protected area hosting habitats and species of European importance. The Mt. Argentario Natura 2000 habitat map (1:10,000) was compiled from photo-interpretation and field surveys, integrated with data from past cartographic and phytosociological studies. Conventional geographical informat...

Lectotypification of Eleocharis palustris (L.) Roem. & Schult. var. reptans Parl., today a synonimous of Eleocharis palustris subps. palustris

Patterns and trends of declining reed-beds in four freshwater ecosystems in central Italy are investigated through an aerial orthoimagery-based diachronic analysis over a period of 24 years. Extent variations and retreat from the waterfront are detected in all sites, compensated only in few cases by backwards enlargements. These shape and size modi...