Tuexenia 40: 547–571. Göttingen 2020. doi: 10.14471/2020.40.019, available online at www.zobodat.at The dry grasslands of Abruzzo National Park, the oldest protected area in the Apennines (Central Italy): overview of vegetation composition, syntaxonomy, ecology and diversity Das trockene Grasland des Abruzzen-Nationalparks, des ältesten Schutzgebiets im Apennin (Mittelitalien): Überblick über Vegetationszusammensetzung, Syntaxonomie, Ökologie und Vielfalt Laura Cancellieri1 , Leonardo Rosati2, * , Michele Brunetti3, , Leone Davide Mancini1, , Riccardo Primi1, , Bruno Ronchi1, , Anna Scoppola1, & Goffredo Filibeck1, 1Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy; 2School of Agriculture, Forestry, Food and Environment, University of Basilicata, Via Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy; 3Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), 40129 Bologna, Italy *Corresponding author, e-mail:
[email protected] Abstract The Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park was established in 1923 and is considered a flagship conservation area in Italy. It includes large extensions of semi-natural grasslands, maintained by tradi- tional transhumant grazing for centuries. The patterns and drivers of grassland composition within the Park are still poorly investigated, and the scattered phytosociological data available were often based on relevés with varied and not precisely defined sizes. In order to provide for the first time a general overview of the Park’s