Functional biodiversity at the Botanical Garden

The main purpose of these studies is to create a “functional identity card” for different species at the Botanical Garden, in order to assess how biodiversity is manifested in functional traits. Climate changes, particularly the intensification of the hydrological cycle characterized by an increase in extreme events, both of flood and drought nature, and the rise in average temperature, seem to influence both the physiological response and the reproductive capacity of many species, threatening their survival. For this reason, climate changes are considered one of the major causes of biodiversity loss, and appear to be more pronounced in geographical areas characterized by hot and arid summers and rainy winters, such as Mediterranean Europe. One of the most important objectives in the field of ecology is therefore to research and highlight the characteristics that favor the survival of some species over others in this environmental context.