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Description
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Zelkova sicula is a very rare plant discovered in 1991, which survives only in two small areas, located in the mountain range of the Iblei Mountains in south-eastern Sicily, each consisting of a few hundred copies; Z. sicula appeared during the Tertiary Era, and later, during the Quaternary glaciations, the genus Zelkova became extinct in all of continental Europe. Because of its rarity, the species is therefore included in the Red List of endangered species in the category "seriously endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Today Z. sicula is threatened by several factors: the long geographical isolation, small populations, loss of genetic variability, poor fruiting with probable sterility of seeds, summer water stress, strong anthropogenic disturbance, the lack of concrete measures for protection and moreover tno legal standards of protection; the result is the absence of protection for specie. Aim of the project is to eliminate the threat factors in order to obtain the protection of the species, through concrete activities of conservation, standard legal protection acts , information campaigns and awareness raising. |
