title: Adaptive management of invasive pests in natural protected areas: the case of Matsucoccus feytaudi in Central Italy.
abstract: Invasive species are a significant threat to affected ecosystems, having serious environmental, economic and social impacts. The maritime pine bast scale, Matsucoccus feytaudi Ducasse (Hemiptera: Matsucoccidae), causes serious damage to Pinus pinaster forests in SE France, Corsica and Italy where it has been introduced. This study illustrates the adaptive management plan implemented in the Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli Regional Natural Park in Tuscany, Italy, where M. feytaudi arrived in 2004, leading to the decay of local P. pinaster stands. The management programme, aimed at slowing the establishment and growth of M. feytaudi, was carried out in the main sector of the park, Tenuta di San Rossore, to retard the destruction of the P. pinaster coastal strip protecting the more internal woodland from sea salt and to allow replacement of P. pinaster trees with a more stable broad-leaved wood. The combined use of mass trapping and silvicultural interventions, applied in a targeted manner according to distribution maps of pest captures and damage, helped to delay forest destruction compared with a nearby unmanaged area of the park Tenuta di Tombolo. Although M. feytaudi continued to spread during the management period, the populations remained at low levels for 6 years, showing a marked increase in 2012. During this period, the P. pinaster stands were reduced from 320 to 249 ha. The final result of this ongoing gradual conversion process will be transformation of the P. pinaster forest into Holm oak woods and Mediterranean shrub land, while P. pinaster will survive as clusters or blocks of trees.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural,Environmental and Food Sciences - University of Molise - Via De Sanctis,I-86100 Campobasso,Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sciarretta
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria,CREA-ABP Research Centre for Agrobiology and Pedology,Via Lanciola 12/A,50125 Firenze,Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marziali
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria,CREA-ABP Research Centre for Agrobiology and Pedology,Via Lanciola 12/A,50125 Firenze,Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Squarcini
authors.affiliation: Tuscany Regional Phytosanitary Service,Via Pietrapiana,30, 50121 Firenze,Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marianelli
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria,CREA-ABP Research Centre for Agrobiology and Pedology,Via Lanciola 12/A,50125 Firenze,Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Benassai
authors.affiliation: Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli Regional Natural Park,Loc. Cascine Vecchie,Tenuta di San Rossore,56122 Pisa,Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Logli
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria,CREA-ABP Research Centre for Agrobiology and Pedology,Via Lanciola 12/A,50125 Firenze,Italy.
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Roversi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D016468:Forestry; D065928:Forests; D006430:Hemiptera; D058865:Introduced Species; D007558:Italy; D010572:Pest Control, Biological; D010675:Pheromones; D028223:Pinus
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones; C010411:insect attractants
keywords: Matsucoccus feytaudi; Pinus pinaster; mass trapping; monitoring; spatial analysis