“Protect the natural world": is it enough, or do we need to take more action?
Elisa AnnaFano
1,6*
PaolaForni
2*
MattiasGaglio
3*
Maria SilviaGiamberini
2*
MichelaLeonardi
4,5*
Alexandra NicoletaMuresan
6*
GiovanniNobili
7*
FabioVincenzi
3*
AntonelloProvenzale
2*
1
Dept. Life Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Ferrara, Via Borsari 46, Ferrara, Ferrara - 44121, Italia
2
Istituto Geoscienze e Georisorse, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, Pisa - 56024, Italia
3
Environmental and Prevention Sciences, University of Ferrara, Corso Ercole I d'Este, 32, Ferrara, Ferrara - 44121, Italia
4
Dept. of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, Cambridge - CB2 3EJ, UK
5
Natural History Museun, Natural History Museun, Cromwell Road, London, London - SW7 5BD, UK
6
Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri, CNR, Via Marconi, 2, Porano, Terni - 05010, Italy
7
Reparto Carabinieri Biodiversità Punta Marina, Reparto Carabinieri Biodiversità Punta Marina, Via C. Colombo 2, Punta Marina, Ravenna - 48122, Italy
“Gran Bosco della Mesola” (1,058 ha) is one of the last and best-preserved remnants of the lowland forests that once covered the northern Adriatic coast. Since 1977, it has been a nature reserve managed by Carabinieri per la Biodiversità, Punta Marina section.
The reserve eatures dunes, woodlands, and especially ponds and canals, which underwent severe degradation in the early 2000s. This led to the launch of a LIFE project in 2003-2004 (LIFE/NAT/IT/7147) aimed at both conserving habitats and species within the Mesola Forest and improving water quality in the canals.
We carried out ecological studies in 2000, 2004 and 2006, 2013, and 2024, assessing the situation both before and after the restoration efforts. Significant ecological changes have occurred over time within this protected area, despite hydraulic restoration and seasonal water input from Canal Bianco.
Primary production and aquatic communities have been drastically altered by:
saltwater intrusion (Muresan et al., 2020; Gaglio et al., 2023);
spread of the invasive species Procambarus clarkii (Mazzotti et al., 2007);
introduction of non-native fish like common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) for recreational purposes in nearby canals—species that later colonized the reserve—(Tapia & Zambrano, 2003). Carp foraging and the constant grazing activity of grass carp keeps causing high turbidity, which prevent the regrowth of macrophytes, now nearly absent (Hootsman, 1999).
This has profoundly changed the trophic networks of the canals, leading to the disappearance of some benthic functional groups and the dominance of others.
These findings highlight the need for conservation strategies that extend across the entire surrounding landscape, rather than focusing solely on isolated protected areas, to ensure the proper maintenance of ecosystem functionality and the delivery of related ecosystem services.
Ruolo dell’Ecologia in conservazione, restauro e pianificazione