Comparison between populations of Gentiana ligustica R.Vilm. & Chopinet in Mediterranean and Alpine biomes.

Gentiana ligustica R.Vilm. & Chopinet is an endemic species in South-Western Alps protected by Annex II and IV of Habitat Directive (92/43/CEE). Due to art. 17 its Conservation Status is considered inadequate with the populations inside Mediterranean biome less studied and mostly threatened by habitat degradation than the Alpine’s ones. To manage conservation projects is useful to study if there are differences in the species adaptation inside the two biomes, so five population affected by mediterranean climate and five by alpine climate had been studied and compared. One first research focused on analizing soil chemistry and micro-niche as the relationship of species abundance related to soil, rock and forbs coverages. Then, had been measured seven traits to see if there are morphological differences between Gentiana ligustica in the two biomes. Morphologic traits show a larger but shorter corolla in mediterranean populations than the alpine ones (Fig. 1) and the soil chemistry wasn’t significantly different between biomes (Fig. 2). Even if this species grows in different soil and rock or forbs coverage, is abundant in sandy and poor soils. This can be important to work on conservation project based on traslocation and introduction of individuals.