About
41
Publications
14,679
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
432
Citations
Introduction
Luca Malatesta is a plant ecologist working in the fields of environmental conservation and systemic land use planning. He collaborated with international cooperation projects in Socotra Island (Yemen), Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland, for pastoral systems management, (semi-)arid grasslands biodiversity conservation, thematic cartography and biological collections digitization and maintenance. His scientific interests focus on vegetation description, analysis and mapping, conservation of endangered species and ecosystem services and functions, arid and semi-arid ecosystems management in face of livestock grazing, climate change and biodiversity data sharing.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
October 2015 - September 2019
Position
- Research Associate
Description
- Development of management models for systemic land use planning and biodiversity conservation in the SADC region
Education
March 2012 - July 2015
Publications
Publications (41)
Facilitation processes constitute basic elements of vegetation dynamics in harsh systems. Recent studies in tropical alpine environments demonstrated how pioneer plant species defined as “ecosystem engineers” are capable of enhancing landscape-level richness by adding new species to the community through the modification of microhabitats, and also...
Aims Facilitation is a key process in vegetation dynamics, driving the response to natural and anthropogenic pressures. In harsh-grazed
systems, palatable plants mainly survive when nested under unpalatable tussocks and shrubs. The magnitude and direction of
positive interactions are driven by resource availability, extent of herbivory and type of...
High mountain environments located in the tropics account for as much as 10 % of the total surface area of high mountain ecosystems worldwide, yet their ecology has been studied much less thoroughly than outside the tropics. The dry Puna is the largest ecosystem of the high tropical Andes and one of the leading biodiversity hotspots worldwide. In t...
Socotra Island (Yemen), a global biodiversity hotspot, is characterized by high geo-morphological and biological diversity. In this study, we present a high-resolution vegetation map of the island based on combining vegetation analysis and classification with remote sensing. Two different image classification approaches were tested to assess the mo...
The ecological land scape classification (ELC) allows the identification of homogeneous land units (LUs), which are fundamental for investigation and management purposes. ELC is particularly relevant in international cooperation programmes targeting areas characterized by very scarce and scattered thematic information. In this study, three techniqu...
Question
Plant–plant facilitation is a critical ecological mechanism in arid environments, influencing biodiversity and ecosystem resilience globally. Shrubs often serve as nurse species, enhancing tree regeneration and sheltering plant communities, particularly in overgrazed or degraded habitats. In this study, we examine the role of shrubs as nur...
Protected areas (PAs) in southern Africa provide refuge to important megafauna such as the savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana). Sections of these PAs are often transfrontier conservation complexes, whose objective of which is to facilitate historic patterns of wildlife dispersal. Knowledge of megafauna home ranges, habitat use, and dispersal in...
The Miyawaki method, developed by Akira Miyawaki, restores natural forests by planting diverse native species in compact spaces, rapidly creating compact, resilient ecosystems. Initially successful in Japan, its global application bloomed but remains rare in Mediterranean urban areas despite benefits like biodiversity enhancement and climate change...
![Species rarefaction curves and estimates using the Colwell et al [18]...](publication/375811985/figure/fig1/AS:11431281233875422@1712154427575/Species-rarefaction-curves-and-estimates-using-the-Colwell-et-al-18-estimator_Q320.jpg)
The forests of Papua New Guinea (PNG) play a fundamental role in sustaining the livelihood of local communities and provide significant income to the country derived from the export of timber. After land conversion for agriculture, logging has been identified as the second most common disturbance factor. Conservation activities must be based on a b...
We analysed the floristic subdivisions of Albania by hierarchical clustering of all the vascular plant species of Albania over a grid of 25 km cells, adapting data from the Vascular Species Distribution Atlas in Albania of ( Barina Z (ed.) (2017) Distribution atlas of vascular plants in Albania. Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest). We ident...
The Socotra Archipelago (Yemen) is an interesting biodiversity hotspot, with a significant proportion of endemic species that have evolved to survive in an arid subtropical environment, inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The terrestrial ecosystems of Socotra face several threats, including climate change, overgrazing and soil degradation...
Mozambique biodiversity richness plays a pivotal role to achieve the sustainable development of the country. However, Mozambique’s flora and fauna diversity still remains broadly unknown and poorly documented. To properly address this issue, one of the strategic needs expressed by the Mozambican institutions was the development of a national biodiv...
Land cover change (LCC) is a complex and dynamic process influenced by social, economic, and biophysical factors that can cause significant impacts on ecological processes and biodiversity conservation. The assessment of LCC is particularly relevant in a country like Mozambique where livelihood strongly depends on natural resources. In this study,...
We examine the distribution of Dracaena cinnabari, the Socotran Dragon’s Blood Tree, an endangered species endemic to the island of Socotra (Yemen)—and we propose an accessibility approach to its conservation, taking the proximity of local communities and land users into account. Using the present occurrence of D. cinnabari, we applied a machine le...
This study aims to document the Mozambican traditional knowledge related to the use of plants. An ethnobotanical survey was conducted in the Limpopo National Park (Gaza province, Mozambique). Data were gathered through field expeditions which involved interviews with five local healers, selected as key informants. 101 plant species, belonging to 49...
An updated checklist of Mozambique's vascular plants is presented. It was compiled referring to several information sources such as existing literature, relevant online databases and herbaria collections. The checklist includes 7,099 taxa (5,957 species, 605 subspecies, 537 varieties), belonging to 226 families and 1,746 genera. There are 6,804 ang...
The modification of precipitation regimes and the increase in summer aridity under the predicted climate change scenarios are hypothesized to have repercussions on the semi-extensive pastoral systems of Mediterranean grasslands, leading to change in forage quantity/quality, increased interannual variability in phytomass production, reduction of the...
Today’s Mediterranean landscapes result from the interaction between ecosystems and anthropogenic activities. This study aims to assess how the land-use changes between the mid-nineteenth and end of the twentieth century influenced the temporal continuity of the ecosystems in central Apennines (central Italy). Information was acquired from Gregoria...
Background: Genetic resources are important for the livelihood of the rural population in developing countries and have an economic potential that, through an efficient Access and Benefit Sharing regime, can support sustainable economic development. Considering the wealth of genetic resources in Mozambique, its eligibility for Access and Benefit Sh...
Socotra, the largest of four islands in the Socotra archipelago (Yemen), is characterized by high geo-morphological and biological diversity. Traditional management of land resources has been impacted by cultural shifts, globalization and urban expansion. In addition, the island has been affected by climate impacts, such as droughts and recent cycl...
Socotra Island, in the western Indian Ocean, harbors high biodiversity and endemism and makes up the largest part of the Socotra archipelago UNESCO World Heritage site. Its climatic, pedological, and geomorphological characteristics, together with the long geological isolation and inaccessibility, led to the flourishing of unique tree diversity, wi...
Aim : To propose a Finite Mixture Model (FMM) as an additional approach for classifying large datasets of georeferenced vegetation plots from complex vegetation systems. Study area : The Italian peninsula including the two main islands (Sicily and Sardinia), but excluding the Alps and the Po plain. Methods : We used a database of 5,593 georeference...
Questions
High mountain pastures are hots pots of biodiversity, but grazing cessation and climate change are causing tall‐grass encroachment and expansion of scrublands and forests. As part of biodiversity conservation efforts, grassland variation needs to be investigated at different spatial scales. We aimed to assess the landscape mosaic variatio...
In low-mountain secondary grasslands of central Apennines, grazing cessation and undergrazing foster Brachypodium rupestre invasion, threatening the 6210* habitat (92/43/EEC Directive). The research aim was to understand the effect of multi-annual mowing and litter removal on recovery of coenological composition of a B. rupestre-invaded grassland....
Alien plants invasion has negative impacts on the structure and functionality of ecosystems. Understanding the determinants of this process is fundamental for addressing environmental issues, such as the water availability in South Africa’s catchments. Both environmental and anthropogenic factors determine the invasion of alien species; however, th...
Abandoned croplands can be considered a new category of “scattered elements” of mountain landscapes. To gain a deeper understanding of the conservation status (sensu EEC Directive 92/43) of abandoned cropland in the northern Apennines, we used the concept of the social behavior type (SBT) of plant communities. SBTs refer to the behaviour and ecolog...
Large mammalian herbivores are keystone species affecting the biodiversity and functioning of ecosystems, since herbivory directly influences plant species competitive ability. Thus, when managing habitats for conservation it is crucial to understand the selection patterns of large herbivores and their effect on plant diversity and assemblage. With...
This research aimed revealing the dynamic status of semi-natural dry grasslands and assessing how environmental factors shape their species composition in five sites (Sites of Community Importance - SCI and Special Protection Areas - SPA) of Natura 2000 Network (92/43/EEC Directive). In order to provide data about their conservation status, possibl...
Questions
In order to preserve the ecosystem functioning of semi‐natural sub‐Mediterranean calcareous grasslands of the Central Apennines, it is vital to understand how functional diversity ( FD ) changes in relation to different types of disturbance. To compare the effects of sheep grazing and those of late‐summer mowing, we asked: do different ty...
In the Peruvian highlands, climate change and inadequate management are causing land degradation and collapse of the pastoral system. Our research project was aimed at assessing the impact of grazing on dry Puna ecosystem, as understanding and predicting vegetation changes in harsh environments in the face of different disturbance regimes is requir...
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the cont...
L'arcipelago di Socotra (Yemen), ospita una elevata diversità biologica, con caratteristiche uniche tali da renderlo un territorio rilevante per la conservazione della biodiversità a livello globale: l’alto livello di endemismo, soprattutto per le specie vegetali, lo colloca tra le isole più importanti del mondo.
Vegetation map by satellite imager...
