Coastal wetlands are among the most threatened ecosystems in the Mediterranean area. Today more than ever it is crucial to understand the past landscape in order to correctly plan environmental restoration and biodiversity conservation actions. In Sicily, the coastal saltmarshes, very localized and some small in size, host very specialized and well-structured plant communities, often with floristic elements exclusive to the island or at the limit of their distribution area. The main objective of this study is to reconstruct the past landscape of the Catania Plain coastal area (eastern Sicily) through the investigation of relict vegetation. During the field investigations (2021-2025), 260 phytosociological relevés using the Braun-Blanquet approach were collected. The perennial communities of the Salicornietea fruticosae, Juncetea maritimi, Phragmito-Magnocaricetea, and Nerio-Tamaricetea classes were detected.
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