Article Floristic and Vegetation Changes on a Small Mediterranean Island over the Last Century Saverio Sciandrello 1,*, Salvatore Cambria 1, Gianpietro Giusso del Galdo 1, Riccardo Guarino 2, Pietro Minissale 1, Salvatore Pasta 3, Gianmarco Tavilla 1 and Antonia Cristaudo 1 1 Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, Via A. Longo 19, I‐95125 Catania, Italy;
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[email protected] Abstract: A synthetic and updated overview about the vascular flora and vegetation of the Island of Capo Passero (SE‐Sicily) is provided. These data issue from two series of field surveys—the first carried out between 1997 and 2000, and the second between 2005 and 2019 and mostly focused on refining and implementing vegetation data. The current islet’s flora consists of 269 taxa, of which 149 (58%) are annual plants. The Mediterranean species are largely prevailing, 108 (40%) of which have a strictly Mediterranean biogeographical status. The comparison with a species list published in 1919 and updated in 1957 suggest that, despite the overall prevalence of anemochorous taxa, the Citation: Sciandrello, S.; Cambria, S.; vertebrate fauna represents an important vector for the plant colonization of the island, while the Giusso del Galdo, G.; Guarino, R.; immigration of myrmechocorous taxa does not compensate the extinction rate.