Carmelo Maria Musarella

By Ana Cano Ortiz, Carmelo María Musarella and Eusebio Cano Carmona

The island of Hispaniola is located between parallels 17 and 19 N and forms part of the Greater Antilles group in the Caribbean region. It covers an area of 76,484 km2 and has the highest altitudes in the whole Caribbean region. The island consists of two countries: the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Haiti. The flora of both countries has been studied in depth by Liogier and several authors from the Dr. Rafael Ma. Moscoso National Botanical Garden in Santo Domingo; this has enabled us to examine the distribution of 1582 endemic species in 19 areas and several important endemic habitats for conservation: Lepotogono buchii‐Leptochloopsietum virgatae;Crotono astrophori‐Leptochloopsietum virgatae;Melocacto pedenalensi‐Leptochloopsietum virgatae and Solano microphylli‐Leptochloopsietum virgatae pine forests on serpentine belonging to the association Leptogono buchii‐Pinetum occidentalis and high‐mountain pine forests: Dendropemom phycnophylli‐Pinetum occidentalis and Cocotrino scopari‐Pinetum occidentalis. Some dry forest communities are of interest, including Chrysophyllo oliviformi‐Sideroxyletum salicifolii and Zamio debilis‐Metopietum toxiferi. Based on the floristic analysis and the vegetation study, a biogeographical typology for the island, in which we propose 19 biogeographical areas (BA) has been established.

Part of the book: Plant Ecology

By Ana Cano-Ortiz, Carmelo Maria Musarella, Carlos José Piñar Fuentes, Carmen Bartolomé Esteban, Ricardo Quinto-Canas, Carlos José Pinto Gomes, Sara del Río and Eusebio Cano

The vegetation types and floristic diversity in the Dominican Republic are analysed, a territory with a tropical climate and ombrotypes that range from dry to humid-hyperhumid, due to the Atlantic winds and the phenomenon known as rain shadows. The presence of high mountains and different substrates have led to a rich flora, and as a result, a high diversity of habitats, among which two large forest types are particularly notable: (1) the dry forest with 81 endemic species, of which 10 are trees, 65 shrubs, 5 climbers and 1 herbaceous species, and an absence of epiphytes and (2) the cloud forest with 19 trees, 20 shrubs, 8 climbers, 4 epiphytes, and 6 herbaceous species. In all cases, these plant communities are regarded as endemic due to their high rate of endemic species. In spite of their importance for conservation, these habitats are highly deteriorated due to deforestation for agriculture, to obtain timber, and even to add to tourism infrastructures.

Part of the book: Vegetation

By Ana Cano-Ortiz, Carmelo Maria Musarella, José Carlos Piñar Fuentes, Carlos Jose Pinto Gomes, Sara Del Rio, Ricardo Quinto Canas and Eusebio Cano

Our study of mangrove swamps revealed a total of 120 species, of which 13 are characteristics of mangrove swamps, and 38 of flooded areas with low salt. All the others are invasive species which have taken advantage of the degradation of these natural ecosystems. The scenario is not very different in Laguna de Tres Palos in Mexico. The frequent fires in the low-growing semi-deciduous rainforest (dry forest) have caused intense erosion, with the consequence that the site has silted up. As a result, the first vegetation band of Rhizophora mangle is extremely rare. Instead, Laguncularia racemosa and Conocarpus erectus are dominant, along with a band of Phragmito-Magnocaricetea with a high occurrence of Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin., which acts as an indicator of sediment silting. It is extremely frequent for several reasons: as it is the decrease of the salinity of the water, the scarce depth due to the accumulation of sediments and the contamination by the entrance of residual waters of the nearby populations. When the depth and salinity of the water are suitable, the dominant species are Rhizophora mangle, Laguncularia racemosa, and Avicennia germinans.

Part of the book: Mangrove Ecosystem Ecology and Function

By Eusebio Cano Carmona, Ana Cano Ortiz and Carmelo Maria Musarella

Part of the book: Endemic Species

By Carmelo Maria Musarella, Ana Cano-Ortiz and Ricardo Quinto Canas

Part of the book: Habitats of the World

By Giovanni Spampinato, Valentina Lucia Astrid Laface, Ana Cano Ortiz, Ricardo Quinto Canas and Carmelo Maria Musarella

Salvia ceratophylloides Ard. is a very precious narrow endemism of Southern Italy. It grows in the suburban surroundings of Reggio Calabria, on coastal strip hilly ridges between 250 and 450 m a.s.l. At the beginning of 1900, it was present in several localities, as evidenced by literature, where it was already very rare. Afterward, despite the research carried out by various botanists, the species was no longer found, due to its disappearing in the places mentioned in literature resulting from the intense environmental transformations suffered by the territory. Therefore, the species since 1997 was included in the “Red Book of the flora of Italy” among the extinct species. The successive research carried out in 2008 made it possible to ascertain new localities at about 10 km of distance from those reported in the literature. The actual population consists of about 1000 individuals, and according to IUNC criteria, the conservation status is critically endangered (CR). The threats to survival and spread of the species are different, but above all, it is the habitat destruction due to urbanization to threaten this species.

Part of the book: Endemic Species