Rome, May 19. (beraking latest news) – Space for biodiversity: unique animal and plant species find refuge in organic fields. This is demonstrated by the farms of the NaturaSì ecosystem, a network of organic shops in Italy. According to estimates, on average 14% of the surface of the companies in…
Rome, May 19. (beraking latest news) – Space for biodiversity: unique animal and plant species find refuge in organic fields. This is demonstrated by the farms of the NaturaSì ecosystem, a network of organic shops in Italy. According to estimates, an average of 14% of the surface area of the farms in the NaturaSi ecosystem is reserved for hedges, groves, wetlands where wild species coexist with cultivated fields without the use of synthetic chemicals; a higher percentage than that indicated by the European Biodiversity Strategy which provides that between now and 2030 at least 10% of the surface of the fields will be reserved for natural areas. In the majority of these organic and biodynamic farms, in fact, there are different habitats next to the fields, from wetlands to woods, from irrigation ditches to hay meadows. Thanks to this differentiation of environments, many of these farms are home to rare or rapidly declining animal and plant species, some protected at a community and regional level.
This is testified by more than 200 people, including adults and children, who, in view of World Biodiversity Day on 22 May, took part in a BioBlitz, a scientific observation activity at the Cascine Orsine di Bereguardo (one of the symbol companies of the NaturaSì) accompanied by ten expert naturalists from the Natural Science Society of Verbano Cusio Ossola. The citizen science operation, with the particularity of taking place on a farm, has detected a significant number of species including plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and invertebrates, including some that enjoy community protection under the European Habitats Directive of the 1992.
The path guided by one of the naturalists led to the identification of 30 different species of birds. Among the most significant, because of Community interest, the night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), the purple heron (Ardea purpurea) and the honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus). The first two reproduce in the large heronry of the Zelata and find sustenance in the rice fields and fields of the company, where the populations of insects, amphibians, reptiles and birds can count on respectful management of animal and plant biodiversity. The honey buzzard is a migratory bird of prey that spends the winter in sub-Saharan Africa and returns in the spring to nest. It feeds on insects such as wasps and their larvae.
Among the reptiles and amphibians observed during the day there are species such as the Saettone (Zamenis longissimus), a common snake in well-preserved lowland woods. Excellent climber, hunts small mammals and birds in the treetops. From the same foliage it is also possible to hear the song of the Italian Tree Frogs (Hyla intermedia), a small anuran with a bright green color perfectly mimetic among the foliage which uses the suckers at the tips of the fingers to climb even perfectly vertical surfaces. The protagonist, however, among the insects, is the stag beetle (Lucanus cervus), a beetle spotted thanks to the attentive eye of naturalists. Among the plants, the ‘nature seekers’ have found some interesting protected species: marsh buttercup or toxic buttercup (Ranunculus sceleratus), Chiana cress (Rorippa amphibia) and water iris (Limniris pseudacorus). Sightings that add to the biodiversity detected in another company of the NaturaSì circuit, San Michele di Cortellazzo (VE), where a monitoring that has lasted for over 5 years has highlighted the presence of marsh harriers, purple herons, barn owls and numerous species of bats included in the red list of endangered species. The farm, the faunists have calculated, is home to 72 species of birds, 15 species of terrestrial mammals, 10 of bats, 5 of reptiles, 3 of amphibians and 72 botanical species.
“Biodiversity is not an abstract concept, but is the basis of healthy agriculture, in which the diversity of organisms favors the sustenance and circularity of the ecosystem. In this process, we have a fundamental role, because we must respect the natural process that is triggered, to protect our health but also that of the Earth – explains Fabio Brescacin, president of NaturaSì – We as citizens, as consumers, should not stop only to the taste of the food, which is certainly important, but it is also essential to know its origin. And the origin is the Earth. When food is healthy for humans, it means it’s healthy for the earth too.”
For the BioBlitz organized by NaturaSì on the occasion of World Biodiversity Day, the doors of Cascine Orsine were opened, a farm in Bereguardo, in the province of Pavia, which has a surface area of 700 hectares, 350 of which are cultivated using the biodynamic method. Cascine Orsine is located in the Ticino Park: biodynamic cultivation has made it possible to protect unique and peculiar types of vegetation of the Po valley such as lowland oak woods and riparian forests, environments that have disappeared from the man-made landscape. There are trees such as English oak, black alder, black poplar, white poplar, even more than 40 meters tall, and a complex structure of the forest layers. Some animal species absent since the end of the 18th century have returned, such as the roe deer, introduced further north into the park and which then expanded having found a favorable area in the Zelata woods; there are also martens, badgers, foxes and many birds of prey, whose presence has increased greatly over the years.