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Leonardo Scuderi

  • Biodiversity Journal, 5 (1): 039-054

    Salvatore Pasta, Arnold Sciberras, Jeffrey Sciberras & Leonardo Scuderi
    Analysis of the vascular flora of four satellite islets of the Egadi Archipelago (W Sicily), with some notes on their vegetation and fauna

    ABSTRACT
    This paper represents the first contribution on the vascular flora of the stack named Faraglione di Levanzo and of three satellite islets of Favignana, i.e. Prèveto, Galeotta and a stack located at Cala Rotonda. A sketch of their vegetation pattern is also provided, as well as a list of all the terrestrial fauna, with some more detailed information on the vertebrates. The finding of some bones of Mustela nivalis Linnaeus, 1758 is the first record for the whole archipelago and deserves further investigations. The floristic data have been used in order to analyze life-form and chorological spectra and to assess species-area relationship, the peculiarity of local plant assemblages, the occurrence of islet specialists, the risk of alien plants invasion and the refugium role played by the islets. The significant differences among the check-lists compiled by the two different couples of authors during their own visits to Prèveto and Galeotta underline the need of planning regular and standardized field investigations in order to avoid an overestimation of local species turnover rates.