DOLOMITES - Annexes 2-8 - Provincia di Udine

NOMINATION OF THE DOLOMITES FOR INSCRIPTION ON THE WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE LIST UNESCO
the great floristic and vegetal value of the Dolomites sites includes the following point:
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Biodiversity. Above all on the southern massifs, not only is the number of species very high per surface
unit (floristic wealth), but there are also vegetal communities that are endemic and exclusive to
these massifs, the survival of which is partly due to the glaciations that have conserved important
elements of Tertiary origin. The major biological wealth of the outer chain is above all confirmed
as regards the many invertebrate groups. The vascular floristic heritage of the Dolomites area includes
about 2,400 species. Excluding the valley floor areas and those outside the nominated area,
the number is reduced to about 1,700, which is equivalent to that of the entire British Isles. In the
territory of the Parco Nazionale Dolomiti Bellunesi alone about 1,350 species have been recorded,
which is a very high number indeed, equal to about 25% of the entire heritage of the nation including
islands. The Alps are an important biogeographical region with high specific biodiversity and
biocenosis (an ecoregion also recognized by the WWF and the site of a centre of plant diversity - see
Smith G., J. Jakubowska. 2000. A global overview of protected areas on the world heritage list of particular
importance for biodiversity. UNEP, WCMC, WH, IUCN. Cambridge, UK ).
Endemism. The massifs of the southeastern sector in particular are the richest, also qualitatively, in
endemic species of great interest, since they contain species that have survived from pre-glacial times.
The value of this area is affected by the important influence of both the refugial Arctic-Al pine species
that arrived during the Quaternary glaciations, and the species gravitating from the east (Dinaric,
Illyrian, Pontic, Steppe) that arrived in the warmer and/or drier post-glacial periods.
Associations and habitats. The Dolomiti Bellunesi, for example, have no less than 55 forest type units,
representing more than 50% of the whole Veneto Region including the plain. In all the sites proposed,
habitats of Community interest are to be found, and some of the sites contain many habitats
considered as priorities by Annex 1 to the Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC.
Ecosystem dynamics in progress. One factor worthy of note, involved in the more interesting ecosystem
dynamics, is the abandon or diminished use of the high pastures, where progressive acidification of
the upper layers of soil can be observed.
Cypripedium calceolus.