D'aria, Anna Le orchidee spontanee, una risorsa naturale per promuovere l’economia della comunità di Palena. [Tesi di dottorato]

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Abstract

Interest in the sustainable development of inland areas is closely linked to the enhancement of natural and cultural resources, combined with responsible tourism. However, the expansion of the tourism sector presents significant environmental challenges, requiring sustainable policies to ensure balanced development. The creation of Protected Natural Areas is a comprehensive strategy to preserve fragile resources and ecosystems. Inland areas, often characterized by unique landscapes rich in biodiversity, are at the center of sustainable natural resource management policies. However, tourism is not always in tune with the local environment and culture, highlighting the need for a holistic approach to sustainable tourism. This study focuses on analysing tourism's economic and social impact, recognizing its potential to create employment and benefits for local communities. In the context outlined above, the municipality of Palena, located in the Abruzzo Apennines, presents an innovative approach to sustainable tourism. The identification of the area as ‘Country of Wild Orchids’ has prompted initiatives to enhance this natural resource. Through detailed research and the planning of interactive thematic routes, the municipality of Palena has developed a sustainable tourism offer, thus contributing to the economic and social development of the area. This project focuses on the creation of an online platform dedicated to the orchids present in the Palena territory. Using descriptive and informative sheets, the aim is to make detailed knowledge accessible to enthusiasts and interested visitors. The creation of this resource involved in-depth investigations of flora, demography, phenology and reproductive success of orchids. The results of this research led to a detailed taxonomic record for the various species, enriched with data on flowering and abundance. In addition, these studies have identified five sites of orchidological interest and proposed as nature trails for visitors. A fascinating aspect of orchid biology is their ability to perform pollination without offering the pollinating insects a nutritive reward, usually represented by nectar and/or pollen. One of the most widespread forms of orchid pollination is food mimicry, which consists of mimicking a nectariferous plant or its typical characteristics. In more specialised cases, some orchid species are pollinated by exclusively mimicking a specific nectariferous plant (Batesian mimicry), and natural selection causes the orchid flower to be almost indistinguishable from its nectariferous model. In the present work, it was examined whether Anacamptis morio, the most common orchid in Palena and that performs food mimicry, benefits from the co-occurrence of rewarding plants. It was also investigated whether certain floral traits of the orchid are associated with increased pollination success due to their similarity to a rewarding species, as expected when studying floral mimicry. After identifying a putative rewarding model for floral mimicry in P. nicaeensis, several tests were conducted to determine whether the similarity of the A. morio flower to the model positively or negatively influenced the pollination success of the orchid and whether this similarity was the result of adaptive similarity (floral mimicry hypothesis). Finally, it was tested whether the presence of the putative model/magnet plant increases the male reproductive success of A. morio through increased pollination efficiency. The results of the analyses indicate that the pollination success of A. morio is not significantly correlated with the average number of flowers of the co-present plants. There was a significant correlation between the pollination success of A. morio and that of P. nicaeensis. Furthermore, both the pollination success of A. morio and that of P. nicaeensis proved to be independent of the overall pollination success of the prairie. No evidence was found to support the hypothesis of greater pollination success of A. morio when it is similar in colour to P. nicaeensis, as expected in adaptive mimicry. Finally, it was shown that the pollination efficiency of A. morio was significantly correlated with the presence of P. nicaeensis.

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