La riqualificazione floristica del Bosco delle Querce di Seveso e Meda a trent’anni dall’incidente dell’ICMESA.

The environmental recovery of the Bosco delle Querce (Oak Wood) of Seveso and Meda thirty years after the Icmesa accident. Following the Icmesa industrial accident of 10 July 1976, environmental recovery within the Bosco delle Querce (Oak Wood) of Seveso and Meda has helped create forest communities that are complete in terms of woody species. These reconstructed vegetation types were, however, lacking in an herbaceous understorey component, the natural dispersal of which is hindered by urbanisation and the geographic isolation of the site. In this context the Native Flora Centre of Lombardy conducted an assisted migration to establish various sites of recolonisation, composed of eight herbaceous species typical of the understorey fl ora (Anemone nemorosa, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Campanula trachelium, Festuca heterophylla, Fragaria vesca, Luzula pilosa, Teucrium scorodonia, and Vinca minor). In the present study we report a synthesis of the results obtained during the course of monitoring of these species conducted in the two seasons following the establishment of the plants; results that demonstrate the success of the intervention.