Invasive Aliens in Italy: Enumeration, History, Biology and Their Impact

Abstract

Italy includes two large islands, Sardinia and Sicily, and a peninsula separated from the European continent by the Alpine Arch. At national level ISPRA (Instituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, Higher Institute for Environmental protection and research) is the instrument of the Ministry of Environment and for the Protection of the Territory and the Sea to carry out its mission, including the study, monitoring, and control of invasive alien species. Universities, Scientific Societies, and ONGs play a vital role in basic research. The interest in the study of alien plants is of a theoretical nature, as regards the migrations of living beings and interactions with native species, but mainly it is of applied nature, for the protection of endangered species, agriculture, the redevelopment of landscape, etc. More than half of the 1628 alien plant taxa recorded for Italy occurs exclusively in man-made habitats as artificial surfaces, agricultural land, forestry plantations, and artificial water bodies.The establishment of new alien plants appears more or less directly connected to the environmental degradation, and to the larger flow of ornamental and productive plants through international trade routes.