A REVIEW OF MEDITERRANEAN MACROPHYTOBENTHOS COLLECTIONS PRESENT IN ITALY: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE MEDITERRANEAN INITIATIVE ON TAXONOMY

The objective of this paper is to index and evaluate macrophytobenthos (macroalgae and marine angiosperms) collections present in Italy with essential information from Europe and the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean shore. The importance of reference collections in the Mediterranean Initiative on Taxonomy has a double justification: collections objectively document the biodiversity of the Mediterranean macrophytobenthos; information registered on the marine herbaria specimens grants the possibility of reconstructing vegetal biodiversity of the places where specimens were collected, along diachronic series reportable to the environmental dynamic and to the management of the territorial resources of the primary benthonic producers. The most important macroalgae Herbaria present in Italy are inside Universities and the CNR. There are other great important collections for Taxonomy of the Mediterranean vegetal biodiversity present in Europe and in the non European Mediterranean Countries.