VEGETATION LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT OF “NATURAL RESERVE OF CHIARONE”, MASSACIUCCOLI LAKE BASIN (TUSCANY, IT)

The Massaciuccoli Lake is located in NW of Tuscany (Italy) (43°50’N 10°19’E) and it is integral part of the Regional Park of San Rossore, Migliarino and Massaciuccoli. This endorheic lake and the surrounding marshlands, with over 2,000 hectares of surface, form the largest retrodunal wetland of Tuscany. Over the last century this ecological system has undergone profound changes both because of land drainage, both because of the industrial and agricultural development of the surrounding areas that have heavily polluted lake, whose waters are still affected by serious eutrophication and ecological degradation. In order to preserve the great natural value of the lake in 1979, with the birth of the regional protected area, was established in the marshy area around the village of Massaciuccoli, the "Natural Reserve of Chiarone"(100 ha). Since 1985 the association LIPU (Italian League for Bird Protection) has obtained the management of the reserve, and its activity is directed to purposes of environmental education, environmental restoration, monitoring and conservation of specific habitats. This report shows the results of several years of investigation on the main vegetational types and their diachronic tranformations, the presence and distribution of endemic/rare/protected species, the changes on the structure of floating islands of peats and the main actions of conservation and management of these wetlands. The vegetation landscape is mainly formed by a mosaic of Phragmitetum australis Gams 1927, Cladietum marisci (Allorge 1922) Zobrist 1935, Typhetum angustifoliae Pignatti 1953, Myriophyllo-Nupharetum Koch 1926, and a large spread of microwoods of hygrophilous phanerophytes as Alnus glutinosa, Frangula alnus, Salix sp.pl. A particular aspect of this lake environment are the "aggallati", floating islands of peat incurred by intertwining rhizomes of straws. Above these peatlands often develop communities of Sphagnum sp.pl, Osmunda regalis L. and Thelypteris palustris Schott (Fig.1). The monitoring of these environments has highlighted the importance of ongoing management, in relation to the maintenance of certain habitats, through periodic cuttings, such as Sphagnum bogs, the control of exotic fauna such as Myocastor coypus, particularly damaging for Cladietum meadows and the special maintenance of the islands, whose structural peculiarity has lately been severely damaged catastrophic weather events