DYNAMIC STAGES IN EXTRAZONAL COENOSIS OF QUERCUS-ILEX IN ABRUZZO (CENTRAL ITALY)

This note has as its objective the study of extrazonal communities of Quercus ilex, found in the inner valleys of Abruzzo (Central Italy) and of the coenosis of substitution dynamically linked to them: Some valleys in the mountains of Abruzzo, and particularly those at Sulmona and Capestrano, to which this research refers, represent, from a climatic point of view, small bounded areas which are thermically high and which interrupt the continuity of the line of low temperatures which characterize the ridge of the Apennines. Other features of these inner areas (whose bottom is about 300–400 m) are the high annual temperature range of about 18°–20°C, and the quite low rate of rainfall (often below 700mm; below 500mm at Capestrano) because of the mountains which stop the wet winds.