Before the Opening of Chiaiano's Dump (Naples)

Full Length Research Paper

Environmental quality in the park of Naples hills (Italy) before the opening of Chiaiano’s dump (Naples)

Maria F. Caliendo1*, Lucilla Fusco,2 Silvana Grimaldi1 and E. Gabriele De Filippo2

1Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, sez. Zoologia, Università degli Studi “Federico II”, via mezzocannone,8-80134 Napoli, Italy. 2Istituto di Gestione della Fauna, via Mezzocannone,8.tel/fax 081/2535141 –Napoli, Italy.

Accepted 24 June, 2009

The metropolitan Park of Naples hills (Italy) was instituted by the regional law 17/2003 with the aim of the green area’s safeguard of the city hills. However, in consequence of the waste emergency in the Campanian region, the Italian government decided the opening of a dump in Chiaiano, a quarter located inside the Park. Through the utilization of the birds as bioindicators, we studied the environmental quality of the whole area, correlating the avifaunal indices to some landscape indices. The results show, generally, that the various areas of the park were constituted from a fragmented landscape and not many mature birds communities. The dump site, called Chiaiano wood, was not so different from other areas of the park because of a similar landscape, formed from old chestnut coppices alternated to cultivation and buildings. This is an important nesting site for some predators, as Falco peregrinus and Falco tinnunculus and of some Chiroptera. This is why the dump might cause the lost of rocky habitats in the Chiaiano wood with a remarkable impact on the ecosystem.

Key words: Naples hills, birds, landscape, dump, destruction of rocky habitat.

INTRODUCTION

Urban parks represent an example of correct environ- reference frame of the environmental quality of the park mental planning for biodiversity conservation and land- and to foresee the possible future impacts of the different scape protection, and a place where people can find the actions of the dump project on the environment. We uti- connection between the urban and the natural environ- lized birds as bioindicators of environmental quality, be- ment. For this aim in Napoli (South Italy) was instituted cause they are representative of all the faunistic commu- the Metropolitan Park of the Naples Hills by the regional nities (Gregory et al., 2003). In fact the birds were largely law n° 17/2003. This park represents a wide environ- considered good indicators of farmland-wooded habitats mental reserve, compensating the excessive surrounding (BirdLife International, 2004; Fornasari et al., 2005), as urbanization. But with the Law Decree n° 90/2008, provi- well as the urban environment (Milone et al., 2000; Ca- ding the actions to face up the waste emergency in the liendo et al., 2003). Besides, we correlated the bird com- Campanian region, the Italian government authorized the munity with the landscape (Andren 1994, Jokimaki and realization of some dumps in different campanian territo- Huhta, 1996), because this analysis will determine the ries, as Chiaiano (Rifle-range’s quarry), inside the Park of impact’s hypothesis and will provide important directions the Naples hills. for the interventions of environmental recovery (de Filippo Since the ornithological studies on the above-mention- et al., 2008). ed park were scants and partials (Fraissinet, 2006; Gugli- elmi et al., 2006), we censed the bird community in differ- MATERIALS AND METHODS rent areas of the park in 2007 winter and 2008 spring before the opening of the dump (2008 October) to obtain a Study area

In our study we considered the whole Park of Naples hills and not only the area interested by the dump (Chiaiano wood), because the different actions of the dump project could interfere also with birds *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. feeding in the areas surrounding Chiaiano. The metropolitan Park Caliendo et al. 061

of the Naples Hills extends for 2215 hectares in the north-west side Area weighted mean shape Ind. (AWMSI) of the town and covers 1/5 of the whole municipal area. The whole Mean perimeter area ratio (MPAR) hill’s structure is based on a yellow tuff’s base called “Neapolitan”, Mean patch fractal dim. (MPFD) characterized by a remarkable presence of deep valleys, large ba- Area weighted mean patch fractal dim. (AWMPFD) sins and natural cavities alternat-ing with wide cultivated areas in terraces. The Park is divided in seven morphological areas (www. Diversity indices: parcodelle-collinedinapoli.it): Shannon diversity index (SDI). 1. Pisani basin (76, 20 ha), a farmland–wooded area Shannon evenness index (SEI). 2. Camaldoli hill (789, 73 ha), characterized by a wood including a large public Park Ornitological indices were correlated with some fragmentation’s in- 3. Chiaiano farms (133, 55 ha), a prevalent farmland area. dices, as NUMP, SDI, SEI, ED, TE, showing a significant correlation 4. Chiaiano wood (566, 51 ha), a prevalent wooded area including in other studies (de Filippo et al., 1996), through Sperman correla- some closed tuff quarries, directly interested by the dump. tion (Fowler and Cohen, 1963). 5.) San Rocco deep valley (301, 15 ha), a 6 km long deep valley excavated in the tuff, prevalently wooded. 6.) Scudillo (122, 50 ha), a prevalent farmland-wooded area, includ- RESULTS ing a public park (Hillock’s Park). 7.) San Martino hill (10, 75 ha), separated from the others, presents The landscape indices showed that often the S. Martino old vineyard terraces and other mediter-ranean cultivations. hill presents different and lower values compared to other areas, except for ED and MPAR, in which presents the

Sampling highest values. Instead, Camaldoli hill presents often higher values, remarkably too, as for area indices, CA, The bird abundance has been monitored in the year 2007-2008 MPS, MEDPS, TE, MPE. Chiaiano wood shows the high- using Variable Circular Plot method (VCP) (de Filippo et al., 1991), est values for TE and SDI (Table 1). where, during 15’ min, every species seen or heard was counted and identified, according to every 15 days. We chose forty sampling Regarding to the ornithological indices, we noted that points representing the various typologies of habitat in the park that the species richness and the not passerifomes/passeri- is urban, farmland and woodland. We considered only the breeding formes indices did not show any significant differences, (April, May and June) and the wintering (December, January and neither in the wintering nor in the breeding period February) data, without the spring and autumn migration’s data, be- (Figures 1 and 4). In the wintering period the Shannon in- cause it is not demonstrated that this area is a migratory way and dex and the evenness index showed slight variability in besides the data of migratory months are very variable (Fulgione et al., 2007), and they could alter the results. the S. Martino hill values compared to other areas of the Park, which were significantly higher when compared to the Chiaiano farms and Chiaiano wood values (p < 0.05). Elaborations In the breeding period the Shannon index recorded a sig- The structure of the communities was evaluated by: species rich- nificant difference between S. Martino values and Chiai- ness (S), Shannon diversity (BSD), evenness (J) (Pielou, 1966), not ano farms (p < 0.05), while the evenness index was signi- passeriformes/passeriformes ratio (NP /P). ficantly different between the S. Martino area and the The landscape analysis was carried out interpreting aerial pho- others, except for Scudillo ( p < 0.05) (Figures 2 and 3). tos (1:100.000) of the park, utilizing the ED_1950 _UTM_Zone_33N coordinate system with Transverse_ Mercator projection. We elabo- In the wintering period 30 species were present (Table rated a vegetation physiog-nomic map (1:10000) with the ArcView 2), of which seven were ubiquitous (Columba livia f. do- GIS software 3.2 (ESRI, 2000) in a 1 km radius buffer surrounding mestica, Erithacus rubecula, Passer italiae, Sylvia mela- the sample plot. Then the landscape diversity of these areas was nocephala, Fringilla coelebs, Serinus serinus, Turdus me- analyzed in a 250 m radius buffer surrounding the sample plot thro- rula). Some species has been observed in only one cen- ugh synthetic fragmentation indices of landscape ecology (FRAG sus point: the Fan-Tailed warlbler (Cisticola juncidis) in STAT 2.0, McGarigal and Marks, 1995) as follow: the Vallone S. Rocco, the Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) in Area indices: the Scudillo, the Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus) and the Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) in the San Martino hill Class area (ha) (CA) and the Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) in the Pisani basin. Landscape area (ha) (TLA) Indices of density, measure and variability of the patch There were 36 breeding species (Table 3), of which se- Number of patches (NUMP) ven were ubiquitous (Falco tinnunculus, Larus michahel- Mean patch size (ha) (MPS) lis, Passer italiae, T. merula, C. livia f. domestica, Sylvia Median patch size (ha) (MEDPS) melanocephala, Sylvia atricapilla). The species registered Patch size coeff. of variance (%) (PSCoV) in only one census point were the Firecrest (Regulus igni- Patch size standard deviation (ha) (PSSD) Edge indices capillus), the Jay (Garrulus glandarius) and the Short- Total Edge (m) (TE) toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactila) in the Pisani ba- Edge density (m/ha) (ED) sin and the Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) in the Chiaiano Mean Patch Edge (MPE) wood. Regarding to significant Sperman correlation, we noted Shape indices: that during the wintering period SEI vs J (r = -0.87; 0.01 < Mean shape Ind (MSI) p < 0.005), SDI vs BSD (r = -0.72; 0.05 < p < 0.025), SEI 062 Int. J. Biodvers. Conserv.

Table 1. Landscape indices in the seven areas of the park.

Pisani Camaldoli Chiaiano Chiaiano S.Rocco S.Martino Abbrev. Scudillo Basin hill Wood farm deep-valley vineyard Class Area CA 76.20 789.73 566.51 99.39 301.15 122.55 10.75 Landscape Area (ha) TLA 76.20 789.73 566.51 99.39 301.15 122.55 10.75 Number Patches NUMP 12.00 23.00 30.00 24.00 18.00 23.00 4.00 Mean Patch Size MPS 6.35 34.34 18.88 4.14 16.73 5.33 2.69 Median Patch Size MEDPS 4.01 25.65 12.27 1.85 7.58 251 2.04 Patch Size Coeff. of variance (%) PSCOV 88.89 94.61 98.84 141.25 131.76 126.84 47.72 Patch Size Standard Dev. (ha) PSSD 5.64 32.49 18.66 5.85 22.04 6.76 1.28 Total Edge (m) TE 18001.34 69286.38 70149.83 25041.61 35395.28 27684.33 4249.49 Edge density (m/ha) ED 236.25 87.73 123.83 251.94 117.53 225.91 395.45 Mean Patch Edge MPE 1500.11 3012.45 2338.33 1043.40 1966.40 1203.67 1062.37 Mean shape Ind. MSI 1.73 1.54 1.59 1.57 1.55 1.61 1.83 Area weighted mean shape Ind. AWMSI 1.98 1.71 1.74 1.86 1.57 1.80 1.94 Mean perimeter area ratio MPAR 323.22 135.34 162.29 393.29 200.25 343.70 432.48 Mean patch fractal dim. MPFD 1.34 1.28 1.29 1.34 1.30 1.33 1.36 Area weighted mean patch fractal dim. AWMPFD 1.33 1.27 1.29 1.33 1.27 1.32 136 Shannon Diversity Index SDI 1.25 1.05 1.27 1.02 1.16 1.11 0.42 Shannon Evenness Index SEI 0.90 0.96 0.92 0.93 083 0.80 0.60

Species richness 25 20 15 wintering 10 breeding 5 0 Camaldoli S. Martino Chiaiano F Pisani ChiaianoW Scudillo S.Rocco

Census points

Figure 1. Species richness mean (S) in the seven areas of the park.

Not passeriformes/paasseriformes 1 0,8 0,6 wintering 0,4 breeding 0,2 0 Camaldoli S. Martino chiaianoF Pisani ChiaianoW Scudillo S:Rocco Census points

Figure 4. Not Passeriformes/Passeriformes mean (NPP) in the seven areas of the park.

vs BSD (r = -0.90; p = 0,005) were negatively correlat- = 0,005) were positively correlated, while ED vs NP/P (r ed. During the breeding period we noted TE vs NPP (r = = - 0.71; 0.05 < p < 0,025), SEI vs BSD (r = -0. 740, 05 0.73; 0.05 < p < 0.025), and NUMP vs NP/P(r =0.94; p < p < 0.025) e SEI vs J (r = -0.88; p = 0.005) were ne Caliendo et al. 063

Shannon index 3 2,5 2 wintering 1,5 breeding 1 0,5 0 Camaldoli S. Martino chiaianoF Pisani ChiaianoW Scudillo S.Rocco

Census points

Figure 2. Bird species diversity mean (BSD) in the seven areas of the park.

Evenness 1,2 1 0,8 wintering 0,6 breeding 0,4 0,2 0 Camaldoli S. Martino chiaianoF Pisani ChiaianoW Scudillo S.Rocco

Census points

Figure 3. Evenness mean (J) in the seven areas of the park.

gatively correlated. distribution of some bird species in urban parks (Jokima-

ki, 1999).The breeding species richness is similar to other DISCUSSION Ita-lian parks (Roscelli, 2005), even if its composition is dif-ferent. There was not any remarkable difference bet- The different areas of the park seemed to be very hetero- ween the bird community of Chiaiano wood and other geneous, because of a diffused fragmentation of the en- prevalently wooded areas of the park, as Camaldoli hill. vironmental mosaic, due to the urbanization and to the in- This is due to the quite similar vegetation’s composition, tersection of farmland and wooded areas. The number of with a predominance of old chestnut coppices and diffe- patches also denoted that some park areas are more fra- rent arboreal species in the forest near the deep valleys gmented (Chiaiano, Scudillo, Camaldoli), compared to and the impluvium tracts. Other previous studies on the others as S. Martino hill. The area with the highest patch Park of Naples hills demonstrated that the total structural number is Chiaiano wood, both for the presence of farm- diversity of vegetation (Erdelen, 1984) did not show any land, wooded and urbanized areas alternating on the ter- significative difference between the seven areas of the ritory, both for the presence of five inactive quarries. The Park (Caliendo and Fusco, 2006). Shannon and evenness indices had the lowest values in In both periods the negative correlation between SEI S. Martino, because of the reduced fragmentation of the vs BSD and SEI vs J might be due to the existence of site; while in Chiaiano wood we noted the highest values, areas, as S. Rocco deep valley e Scudillo, characterized confirming the previous asseverations regarding to the by a remarkable environmental fragmentation, with some fragmentation of the area. That is important since the different habitats having a higher species’ richness, but landscape could have different effects on the bird com- with some monopolistic species very abundant. The bird munity, because factors other than “natural” (example community indices of Camaldoli hill and S. Martino hill factors (example, tree density, etc.) can also affect the denoted a more complex community of birds because of 064 Int. J. Biodvers. Conserv.

Table 2. Check–list of the wintering species.

e o o

d c

o l

o i o r l l

n n c s l

n d d n n a i a l i l a a i n o l o i i a t y v m d i s a a

r R r a a s o e a u h Wintering species i i i S p a a m n c w b n f h h P i e a M a S v e C C C S d Buteo buteo x x Carduelis carduelis x x x Carduelis chloris x x x x x Cisticola juncidis x Cettia cetti x x x Colomba livia f.domestica x x x x x x x Corvus corone x x x x x x x Corvus monedula x Erithacus rubecula x x x x x x x Falco tinnunculus x x x x x x Fringilla coelebs x x x x x x x Larus michahellis x x x x Motacilla alba x x x x x Parus caeruleus x x x Parus major x x x x x Passer italiae x x x x x x x Passer montanus x x x x Picoides major x x Phoenicurus ochruros x x x x x x Phylloscopus collybita x x x x x Pica pica x x x x x Regulus ignicapillus x Saxicola torquata x Streptopelia decaocto x x x Serinus serinus x x x x x x x Sturnus vulgaris x x Sylvia atricapilla x x x x x x Sylvia melanocephala x x x x x x x Turdus merula x x x x x x x Turdus philomelos x

lower urbanization of these areas. In fact the Camaldoli tively to the landscape fragmentation, because these hill was one of the areas with greater number of winter- species need of wide hunt areas and it is important to ing and breeding bird species than other areas of Na- preservethese areas from anthropization (Guglielmi, ples (Fraissinet, 2006). In the mean-while, Pisani basin 2005). In the Chiaiano wood we noted a nesting site of and Chiaiano farms were different because the pre- a Peregrine pair (Falco peregrinus brokei) that, with sence of farmland crops made the landscape less he- some Kestrel and Buzzard nesting sites (Fraissinet, terogeneous and the bird communities less diversified, 2006), denoted wide availability of prey for these pre- as observed only in spring and winter in other agricul- dators. Our territory studies point out that the quarry in- tural landscapes of the Campania (Fulgione et al. 2007) volved in the dump project, as all the Chiaiano quar- However, all the studied areas seem to be constituted ries, leads to an increase of habitat area and food re- from reduced and not many mature communities, as sources for rocky species, as bird of prey and bats (Gu- observed for the Not Passeriformes/Passeriformes ra- glielmi et al., 2006). In fact, the studied quarry repre- tio, showing a lower value when compared to other stu- sents an important habitat for rocky species, some of dies of the whole campanian region (Milone, 1999) and these were Species of European Conservation Con- to the results of the whole town of Napoli (Fraissinet, cern (SPEC), as Chiroptera (Fraissinet, 2004) and Pe- 2006) and other similar Italian town (Dinetti 1994, Borgo regrinus (Falco peregrinus brokei) (Guglielmi et al., et al., 2005). Besides NP/P ratio was correlated nega- 2006). Caliendo et al. 065

Table 3. Check –list of the breeding species.

l y

o e o o o

d c

i o l r

l d

n n c s i l n d l n n a l a i a a i n o i d a o i i a t y v m s a

h u Breeding species r r R a a s o e a

i i m i S p c a a n b w a n f h h P i e S M a v C e C C S d Apus apus x x x x x x Buteo buteo x x x x x x Carduelis carduelis x x x x x Carduelis chloris x x x x x x Certhia brachidactyla x Cettia cetti x x x x x Colomba livia f. domestica x x x x x x x Corvus corone x x x x x Corvus monedula x x x x Delichon urbica x x x x x x Erithacus rubecula x x Falco peregrinus x Falco tinnunculus x x x x x x x Ficedula hypoleuca x x Fringilla coelebs x x x x x x Garrulus glandarius x Hirundo rustica x x x x Larus michaellis x x x x x x x Monticola solitarius x x Motacilla alba x x Muscicapa striata x x x Parus caeruleus x x x x x Parus major x x x x Passer italiae x x x x x x x Passer montanus x x x x x x Picoides major x x Phylloscopus collybita x x x x Pica pica x x x x x x Regulus ignicapillus x Saxicola torquata x x Serinus serinus x x x x x x x Streptopelia decaocto x x x x Sylvia atricapilla x x x x x x x Sylvia melanocephala x x x x x x x Troglodytes troglodytes x x Turdus merula x x x x x x x

The opening of the dump requires various activities, in- Therefore, mitigation activities could improve the ani- fluencing different bird species in different manner: for mal status, even if could not work out the lack of rocky example, the yard actions will influence rocky and wood- habitats and birds in the Chiaiano site. ed habitats, while the recovery and dismissing actions will influence farmland, urban and wooded habitats. The for- REFERENCES est species might undergo to softer impact, because the areas interested from the dump project were quite scant Andren H (1994). Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mam- in comparison with the whole forest area of Chiaiano mals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat: A re- view. Oikos 71: 355–366. wood, while the rocky species might disappear because BirdLife International (2004). Birds in the Europe: population estimates of the whole destruction of rocky habitat. trend and conservation status. Birdlife Int. Cons., Wageningen, Ne 066 Int. J. Biodvers. Conserv.

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