Director: Paola Nola
Headquarters: Zerbolò (PV)
The Bosco Siro Negri Strict Nature Reserve was established in 1967 thanks to a donation to the University of Pavia by Giuseppe Negri, a private citizen of Pavia described by the local press as "the pioneer of environmentalism," in memory of his brother Siro.
The area became a Strict Nature Reserve through a deed of establishment issued by the University in 1970, on the occasion of the European Year for Nature Conservation. In 1973, it was placed under the control of the then Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The deed of acceptance of the donation stipulates that the land that will constitute the Reserve be "entrusted to the care of the Director of the Institute and Botanical Garden, with the commitment to maintain it in its natural state, so that, as such, it may be used exclusively for educational and scientific purposes."
During the organizational evolution of the University of Pavia, the Institute of Botany merged in 2011 with the new Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, which now covers Environmental and Applied Botany and Systematic Botany.
Foto: la silhouette della Riserva dominata da Quercus robur L. (farnie) e da Populus alba L. (pioppi bianchi), vista dalla via di accesso.
The Bosco Siro Negri Strict Nature Reserve is located along the right bank of the Ticino River, approximately 15 kilometers from the city of Pavia, mostly within the municipality of Zerbolò and a small portion within the municipality of Torre d'Isola.
Its initial extension was almost 11 hectares, but over the decades, the area has decreased by at least 2 hectares due to erosion by the Ticino. Two acquisitions of external neighboring land, the first in 2008 (5.93 ha) and the second in 2014 (1.79 ha), have allowed its perimeter to be further extended. The University of Pavia currently owns approximately 16.7 hectares.
The Nature Reserve is home to a small surviving patch of Po Valley lowland forest, characterized by a total suspension of all management activities since the end of World War II. In particular, it is a mixed broadleaf forest - 2,050 trees in the latest census - dominated by Quercus robur L. (English oak), Populus nigra L. (black poplar), Acer campestre L. (field maple), Populus alba L. (white poplar), Ulmus minor Mill. (common elm).
Foto: Convallaria majalis L. (mughetto), tipica specie nemorale della Riserva.
The "Bosco Siro Negri", precisely because it is a nature reserve, is not intended for public visits, but rather for the conservation of the plain's spontaneous forest vegetation and its species in situ, that is, where they naturally occur. The only activities undertaken are scientific research dedicated to topics such as the horizontal and vertical structure of vegetation, vegetation dynamism, the ecophysiology of forest species, forest ecology, the evolution of tree mass on the ground, dendroecology, pedology, soil radiochemistry, mycology, lichenology, and vertebrate and invertebrate zoology.
In order to present and enhance the naturalistic heritage of the Reserve in an educational and informative context, as well as the set of data deriving from the research conducted within it, the “Educational and Popular Centre of the Bosco Siro Negri Integral Nature Reserve” is active, adjacent to the Botanical Garden of Pavia (Via S. Epifanio 14).