Ecogeography of Perennial Legume Collecting Missions in Italy

Abstract

An ecogeographic survey was conducted in three regions of Italy in 1999. The three regions selected for the survey were central Italy, Sicily and Calabria, and Sardinia. A total of seventy-nine sites were visited across the three regions in May when the botanical composition of perennial legume species was documented, including recording companion annual species. Detailed ecogeographic information was collected at each site, and soil samples were taken for later laboratory analysis. Climate data for each site were obtained from the Central Bureau of Agricultural Ecology. The sites were revisited in July to collect seed of the perennial species. One hundred and forty-seven legume species were identified, fifty-two of which were perennial. The most common perennial species were Trifolium pratense, T. repens and Lotus corniculatus, and these were also found to be the species with the widest distributions. Species distribution and site variability was analysed using #-rneans clustering. This identified eleven different climate clusters and nine soil clusters. Particularly acid soils were rare. Cross-tabulation of soil and climate clusters resulted in several environment combinations, which could be explained by geography to a limited extent. The results obtained in this study provide useful preliminary information in the search for perennial legumes for the farming systems of southern Australia, particularly in areas with acid soils.