The Project LIFE+ Fagus is close to its end
On the 11th and 12th of July took place the final event during which the results of the project have been presented to the public.
On July the 11th the conference was held in the Department of Environmental Biology of Sapienza University of Rome. To this event participated 70 people including students, citizens, researchers, personnel of the Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea Protection, Carabinieri Forestali and other persons that have interest in the conservation of biodiversity within Natura 2000 areas.
After the greetings by the Department Director and the Presidents of the two National Parks involved in the project, the first part of the morning was dedicated to the description of the actions of the project with a special focus on the results that were achieved.
In particular, the results for vascular plants and saproxylic beetles were presented. With regards to plants, it was possible to highlight how their composition within the project areas is more diverse due to the creation of gaps carried out during the project. Very relevant are the results for saproxylic beetles with two species included in the annex II of the Habitats Directive, Rosalia alpina and Morimus asper, that were found in the project areas only after the concrete interventions actions. This result derives from the increase of the amount of deadwood that was found in the project areas. Concerning the monitoring of tree species, it was also found that the target species (yew, holly and silver fir) went through a certain increase.
During the second part of the conference, different experts presented topics relative to the conservation and the monitoring of biodiversity in forest habitats. Finally, also other LIFE projects were presented that applied sustainable strategies, mainly in forest habitats.
In particular, the presentation were relative to the MIPP project, which developed and tested standardized monitoring methods to evaluate the conservation status of insect species included in the annexes of the Habitats Directive, to the project CARABUS, that aimed at reduce the extinction threat to the species Carabus olympiae, to the project RESILFOR that pursued the spread of silver fir in the Apennines, and finally to the project GRANATHA, focused on enhancing the conservation status of bird species in moor habitats.
During the conference, besides the Layman report, the participants had copies of the Handbook of good practices produced by the FAGUS project and of the documentary that was projected as a pleasant break between the scientific presentations during the afternoon.
On the next day, the excursion to the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park took place. The participants were lead by the project staff in the project area of Prati di Tivo in order to view the concrete interventions. During the excursion, the replicability of the interventions was discussed both in other areas of the National Parks involved in the project and in other Natura 2000 areas, especially in relation to the priority status of the habitat.
The project is therefore almost finished, but we expect that the actions that were carried out represent a sound basis to have the actions of the project applied again in other beech forests of the Apennines.
