Fitosociologia vol. 45 (1) suppl.1: 57-125, 2008 57 Vegetazione e paesaggio vegetale delle gravine dell’arco jonico E. Biondi & V. Guerra Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali e delle Produzioni Vegetali, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Brecce bianche, 60131 Ancona; e-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected] Abstract Vegetation and plant landscape of the “Gravine” in the Ionian coast . The phytosociological study of the vegetation and the geosynphyosociological analysis of the plant landscape of the Ionian arch Gravine are here presented. The aim of this paper is to give a first contribution on the knowledge of these particular biotopes that represent one of the most important geomorphologic and environmental characteristic of Apulia. The study area, including the gravine system of Cripiano, Statte and Laterza territories, is located in the western part of Taranto Province, between the Murge area and the Ionian Sea. All the relieves are constituted by the lithotypes belonging to the formations of the Stratigraphic Series of Murge Limestone, which the highest outcropping type is represented by “Calcare di Altamura” and by other formations as: “Calcareniti di Gravina”, “Argille Subappenniniche” and “Calcareniti di Monte Castiglione” that crop out along little ravinements called “lame” present in the areas near the coast. The elaboration of climate data of temperature and precipitations shows that the bioclimate is Mediterranean Pluviseasonal Oceanic wuth three bioclimatic belts: • upper thermomediterranean belt: only for the Taranto station, • low mesomediterranean for the station of Crispiano, Castellaneta and Marina di Ginosa, • upper mesomediterranean for Matera station. The vegetation study allowed the identification of the different vegetation typologies occurring in the territory, which are strictly related with the high environmental diversity due to the geomorphologic and microclimatic characteristics of the erosion gullies that often get narrower as canyons with vertical slopes.