Article

The study regards the primary succession on active European volcanoes where the different habitats and substrata are mainly originated by the volcanic activity. Besides those originated by lava flows, there are also particular volcanic habitats as thermal springs, fumaroles, solfataras and cinder cones. The habitats are ecologically different, according to the age of the parent materials, soil and to the surface morphology. Plants on volcanic areas adapt to different ecological conditions that often may represent the limits of the range of their life. The available soil or substrata may be given by loose material, called “ejecta” or “pyroclastic material”, and lavas set up by blocks, called “aa” lavas, or by slabs, called “pahoehoe” lavas. On the lava flows the first colonizers are Blue-green Algae and Bacteria thanks to their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen; this stage is followed by one of Mosses and Lichens that prepares the stage of small herbaceous annuals, while shrubs and trees are establishing only where there is a deeper accumulation of fine material and humus