Nature Reserve of Ghirardi

	Nature Reserve of Ghirardi
	Protected area
	View of the Nature Reserve of Ghirardi
Country	Italy
Province	Province of Parma
Region	Emilia-Romagna
District	Borgo Val di Taro and Albareto
Coordinates	44°31′00″N9°43′22″E / 44.51667°N 9.72278°E Coordinates: 44°31′00″N9°43′22″E / 44.51667°N 9.72278°E [1]
Area	370 ha (914 acres)
Founded	2010
Management	WWF

Last updated April 27, 2019

The Nature Reserve of Ghirardi is a 370-hectare (910-acre) nature reserve located in the Province of Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It was established in 2010.^[2]

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions, regardless of nationality. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park.

The Province of Parma is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its largest town and capital is the city of Parma.

Emilia-Romagna is an administrative region of Northeast Italy comprising the historical regions of Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of 22,446 km² (8,666 sq mi), and about 4.4 million inhabitants.

History

Until the sixties of the last century, an extension of 600 ha (1,500 acres) of the area around Case Ghirardi was occupied by a game preserve, the property of Marchini-Camia. When the 1979 Hunting Law allowed the creation of a faunal oasis and it became a protected zone of the faune, supervised the Province of Parma. The Galasso Law 431/85 added to the protection of the faune also the one of the landscape which was then confirmed by the 1993 Piano Territoriale Paesistico Regionale which made it a natural protected zone ex.art.25. In 1996, it began to be part of the Oasis System and of the Reservation of the Italian WWF World Wide Fund for Nature. In 2006, a part of the territory was integrated in Rete Natura 2000 in Emilia Romagna and it became General Regional Reserve on 21 December 2010.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961, working in the field of the wilderness preservation, and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States.

Territory

The nature reserve of Ghirardi is located in the southwestern part of the Province of Parma (Emilia-Romagna Italy, between the towns of Albareto and of Borgo Val di Taro. The area dates back to the Jurassic period. During sedimentation there were frequent tectonic upheavals, for which the area is characterized by folds and faults (among which, the most noticeable is situated along the river Rizzone). The formations that we can find in the oasis are: - Palombini clays; - Ranzano sandstones; -marls of the mount Piano. The Reserve covers an area of 370 ha (910 acres) of wooded hills, hay fields and uncultivated open lands. The woods occupy half of the surface, with turkey oak woods, chestnut groves, and pine plantations. The annual average temperature of the area, varies between 15 and 17 °C (59 and 63 °F). The climate is characterized by dry summers and heavy rainfall in the month of November.^[3]

Albareto Comune in Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Albareto is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Parma in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 130 kilometres (81 mi) west of Bologna and about 60 kilometres (37 mi) southwest of Parma.

Borgo Val di Taro is a town and comune in Emilia, Italy, in the Province of Parma, 63 kilometres from the city of Parma.

Quercus cerris, the Turkey oak or Austrian oak, is an oak native to south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. It is the type species of Quercus sect. Cerris, a section of the genus characterised by shoot buds surrounded by soft bristles, bristle-tipped leaf lobes, and acorns that usually mature in 18 months.

Flora

The vegetation is mainly composed of trees but it also comprehends a percentage of flowers as Lilium bulbiferum , squill, gentians, crocus, dogtooth violet, and rose hips. Moreover, it is possible to see some rare species such as orchids (over 30 species are present). In the Reserve there are different kinds of wood: from turkey copses and abandoned chestnut woods to parts of more rare woodlands like oak woods with sessile oaks, turkey oaks and english oaks. Because of the extremely varied morphology there are many species of vegetation: linden and gentians, typical of the cold climates, and Mediterranean plants such as tree heath, service tree, whitebeam, Pyrus pyraster , hawthorn, sea buckthorn, laburnum and blackthorn. Even undergrowth plants can appear on this territory, including Malus florentina , Sorbus torminalis , medlar, hazelnuts and white alder.

Lilium bulbiferum, common names orange lily, fire lily and tiger lily, is a herbaceous European lily with underground bulbs, belonging to the Liliaceae.

Squill is a common name for several lily-like plants and may refer to:

Crocus is a genus of flowering plants in the iris family comprising 90 species of perennials growing from corms. Many are cultivated for their flowers appearing in autumn, winter, or spring. The spice saffron is obtained from the stigmas of Crocus sativus, an autumn-blooming species. Crocuses are native to woodland, scrub, and meadows from sea level to alpine tundra in central and southern Europe, in particular Krokos, Greece, on the islands of the Aegean, North Africa and the Middle East, and across Central Asia to Xinjiang Province in western China.

In the groves there are downy oak, hornbeam, sessile oak, english oak, European hornbeam, Italian alder, wild cherry, hawthorn, privets and cornel, along with the rare Malus florentina . In the reserve there are numerous small rivers along which dogwoods, aspens, black poplar and willows grow. The areas used for agricultural purposes that can be found in the reserve contain some downy oaks which are over one hundred years old. Recently^{[ when? ]}, in the most northern part of the Apennines, a colony of Scots pine has grown spontaneously. Another woodland habitat is occupied by the Italian maple, linden with heart-shaped leaves and oaks, while some zones are full of small-leaved lime, Italian maple, European hornbeam and Ostrya carpinifolia .

Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus Carpinus in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Prunus cerasus is a species of Prunus in the subgenus Cerasus (cherries), native to much of Europe and southwest Asia. It is closely related to the sweet cherry, but has a fruit that is more acidic.

Malus florentina is a species of apple known by the common names Florentine crabapple and hawthorn-leaf crabapple. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula and Italy, and it is grown elsewhere as an ornamental tree.

Fauna

This nature reserve hosts many species of birds and mammals, this thanks to its variegated landscape, which is composed of fields, meadows, hedgerows, shrublands and woods. In this area bird of prey (like short-toed snake eagle, northern goshawk, and hobby)live undisturbed; there are also fallow deer, roe deer and wild boar. The presence of these species helped to reintegrate the wolf. There is a particular interest in the study of bats, with Rhinolophus hipposideros , invertebrates and amphibians including the Italian crested newt, and some fishes like trout, and Telestes muticellus are studied.

Birds, also known as Aves, are a group of endothermic vertebrates, characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm (2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m (9 ft) ostrich. They rank as the world's most numerically-successful class of tetrapods, with approximately ten thousand living species, more than half of these being passerines, sometimes known as perching birds. Birds have wings which are more or less developed depending on the species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which evolved from forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in flightless birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species of birds. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming.

Birds of prey, or raptors, include species of bird that primarily hunt and feed on vertebrates that are large relative to the hunter. Additionally, they have keen eyesight for detecting food at a distance or during flight, strong feet equipped with talons for grasping or killing prey, and powerful, curved beaks for tearing flesh. The term raptor is derived from the Latin word rapio, meaning to seize or take by force. In addition to hunting live prey, most also eat carrion, at least occasionally, and vultures and condors eat carrion as their main food source.

The short-toed snake eagle, also known as short-toed eagle, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards and harriers. The genus name Circaetus is from the Ancient Greek kirkos, a type of hawk, and aetos, "eagle". The specific gallicus means "of Gaul".

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References

↑ "Scheda tecnica". Regione Emilia-Romagna.
↑ "Riserva regionale Ghirardi". Regione Emilia-Romagna.
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-01-11. Retrieved 2012-04-29.

External links

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[1] "Scheda tecnica". Regione Emilia-Romagna.

[2] "Riserva regionale Ghirardi". Regione Emilia-Romagna.

[3] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-01-11. Retrieved 2012-04-29.