Page 19 - PastaLaMantia_2013

Islands and plants: preservation and understanding of flora on Mediterranean islands

Mass tourism causes other collateral damage. For example, the entire life
cycle of some endemic (e.g., Elatine gussonei) and protected species (e.g.,
Matricaria aurea) on Lampedusa is linked to small rock pools and temporary
ponds, which have been and are continuing to be destroyed by unmanaged and
illegal urbanization associated to tourism.

Waste increase
Insufficient or incorrect management of public and private waste dumps
has supported a rapid increase in numbers of the yellow-legged seagull (Larus
michahellis) throughout the whole Mediterranean basin (Médail & Vidal, 1998;
Vidal et al., 2000). The consequences have been large and negative. Lampione,
for example, currently hosts only 20 of the 36 plant species that it hosted 50
years ago, when no seagulls lived there; today, 300 pairs of seagulls breed and
exploit the rubbish mounds on Lampedusa (some 20 Km from the islet). The
local impact of seagull colonies has been particularly large on endemic plant
species: Daucus rupestris, a rare Sicilian endemic, has already become extinct,
while Limonium albidum and Bellevalia pelagica, which are strictly endemic on
this tiny islet, are currently represented by only ca. 50 individuals (Brullo et al.,
2009) and are threatened by direct disturbance (trampling, nesting activities)
and indirect disturbance (nutrient increase and soil quality disruption) caused
by seagulls (Pasta, 2002a; Lo Cascio & Pasta, 2012). Large seagull colonies
have greatly influenced other Sicilian microinsular plant assemblages; seagull
colonies, for example, have caused an intense species turnover and a significant
increase of xenophytes at Isola delle Femmine near Palermo (Caldarella et al.,
2010).

215