The term biodiversity it is widely used to indicate the variety and variability of living organisms and the ecological systems in which they live, while the use of the term is less frequent geodiversitywhich shifts the focus to natural manifestations of a geological, geomorphological, hydrological and pedological nature (relating to soils).
A recent monograph by Brescia naturepublished by Civic Museum of Natural Sciences of Bresciaoffers precious insights into an environmental context of considerable interest extending into the eastern area of the city, and is dedicated to both these types of natural expressions.
«Geobiodiversity of the Carobbio Valley» is the title assigned to the volume which involved experts in specific subjects relating to the Bresciani Naturalistic Studies Center and the Civic Museum, and also researchers from the national territory.
I study
The multidisciplinary study highlights the surprising richness of this area, well known to hikers who walk along its ridges and cross its woods within the perimeter of the Parco delle Colline di Brescia. From the Maddalena newspaper Carobbio Valley it extends its slopes on the furrow crossed by the torrent that generated the deposits on which the houses of Sant’Eufemia della Fonte were built.
The surfaces where they emerge are large limestone and dolomite rock formations of the Corna, a geological term transferred into the Brescia dialect to indicate areas characterized by walls and protrusions. Dialect terms are also used to indicate some of the numerous karst cavities which open onto both sides of the valley, known as buses (Cavra, Creta, Spolverina, Mascheda) or tampa.
Flora
They are welcomed in the valley floristic species belonging to 76 different families, some of which are exclusive to the entire Lombardy region, but the reduction in the orchid contingent threatened by the advance of the forest is worrying. The current vegetation is affected by transformations that have occurred in land use over the last century, as well as ongoing climate changes. The two main series can be traced back to oak forests and to those of hornbeam and manna ash.
Fauna
In the faunal component, which welcomes 14 confirmed species of mammals and 61 of birdsare also of particular interest amphibians and reptiles, as well as the presence of an endemic beetle. Reading the monograph enriches knowledge of the relationship between the city and the nature that surrounds it.
Tags: wealth measured geobiodiversity
