Flora and Fauna in the wetland

In Apulia wetlands, vegetation has needed to adapt itself to the peculiar environmental factors of these areas, namely the high salinity of the lagoon waters and of the substratum and the scarcity of oxygen in the soil.

 These conditions have caused such plants as the Chenopodiaceae to evolve to a sort of small cactuses, with fleshy leaves tightly tied to the stem. The reduced dimension of the leaves has the function of reducing transpiration, while the increase of parenchymatic tissues allows the accumulation of water to counterbalance the salinity of soil.

As regards the fauna, the importance of Apulian swampy regions is mainly due to the numerous species of birds which here occur, either to reproduce or to winter. Of the 63 species of birds which live in wetlands in Italy, a good 46 nidificate in Apulia. As for vegetation, birds too have adapted to the peculiarities of the region: in our wetlands some birds, which usually nidificate on trees (such as the little egret, the squacco heron and the night heron), took to build their nests at sea level amidst cannas in Daunia Risi, as an almost unique case in Italy.

A remarkable position in the trophic chain of wetlands is held by the amphibians, such as tree-frogs, salamanders, tritons, toads and, most important and numerous of all, edible frogs. As to the reptiles, we can find snakes like the grass snake(Natrix natrix) and the tesselated water snake (Natrix tesselata), besides the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis), which is almost disappearing.

According to the census of the natural wetlands taken by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture in 1970, Apulia has the 5th place for surface and the 4th for number of wetlands in Italy: 20,700 hectares, 23 areas.