Case study 5, focusing on Parrot’s feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum) is conducted in Tuscany (central Italy) in ditches around Lake Porta, a locally protected area, and other nearby areas with the aim of assessing parameters affecting species distribution and impacts, and effectiveness of control activities. There are links with Work Package 2, specifically T2.2 (use of drones for mapping the species), and T2.4 (use of eDNA for assessing the community composition).
Control activities conducted by local authorities (i.e. Land Reclamation Consortium 3) and stakeholders started in 2018. In 2025, contacts with the authorities were established to retrieve information about their control activity: they are managing the species at least three times per year simply cutting it, because other
techniques are currently more costly. In October 2025, samplings with traditional techniques and eDNA were performed in sites with and without the species to characterize the plant and animal community. Analyses of data are undergoing. The results will be presented at NEOBIOTA 2026 and will be included in a Bachelor thesis defended in March 2026 at University of Florence.
Julian Zeller, master student of Jonathan Jeschke, was at UNIFI to participate to the sampling on Myriophyllum in October 2025 and is back in Florence to finalize the analysis. In 2026, the plan is to (1) retrieve the database of the local authorities to have a better idea where they are managing the species; (2) sample sites before and after the control activities and/or managed/unmanaged sites to evaluate the effectiveness of the used control approach in order to identify the most effective way to tackle with the species; (2) and investigate the factors supporting/limiting the species to favour prevention/dispersal limitation.
