DOLOMITES - Annexes 2-8 - Provincia di Udine

NOMINATION OF THE DOLOMITES FOR INSCRIPTION ON THE WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE LIST UNESCO
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ducted in lake or swampy areas. The results of these studies provide information, including on a local
scale, of the periods in which the most important species have been able to spread and multiply
thanks to the appearance of favourable ecological conditions. It is now certain that several marginal
areas have managed to avoid the disaster caused by glacier formation. These are refuge massifs which
still preserve precious relics of Tertiary era flora. Other areas in the Dolomites, such as around several
peaks and on steep slopes, survived the devastating glacial invasion, making it possible for several
species to continue to exist, even in extreme conditions. These islands of land left free of glaciers are
known by their Eskimo name ‘nunatakker’. The geographic isolation that has been created in the recent
two million years explains many phenomena, such as the development of endemic alterne species
and the exceptional variability of some genuses or groups of species. However, it would be inaccurate
to attribute the current distribution of plant life only to natural factors. The centuries-long
work of man, primarily farmers and livestock raisers, has also resulted in profound changes due to
the great fragmentation of habitats and to the creation of new ecological niches. Without this work
the level of biodiversity would certainly be inferior, save for the more recent, high-impact events related
especially to burgeoning mass tourism and the construction of great infrastructure that have
impoverished and trivialized the flora.
Spruce woods and larch woods on the peaks of Monte Pelmo (Belluno).