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Pubblicazioni Scientifiche
Filtri di ricerca 8 risultati
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Multiple drivers of functional diversity in temperate forest understories: Climate, soil, and forest structure effects
Chelli
,
Stefano
,
Bricca
,
Alessandro
,
Tsakalos
,
James L.
,
Andreetta
,
Anna
,
Bonari
,
Gianmaria
,
Campetella
,
Giandiego
,
Carnicelli
,
Stefano
,
Cervellini
,
Marco
,
Puletti
,
Nicola
,
Wellstein
,
Camilla
,
Canullo
,
R.
climate change
functional diversity
bud bank
forest management
plant height
seed mass
specific leaf area
Mostra abstract
In macroecology, shifting from coarse- to local-scale explanatory factors is crucial for understanding how global change impacts functional diversity (FD). Plants possess diverse traits allowing them to differentially respond across a spectrum of environmental conditions. We aim to assess how macro- to microclimate, stand-scale measured soil properties, forest structure, and management type, influence forest understorey FD at the macroecological scale. Our study covers Italian forests, using thirteen predictors categorized into climate, soil, forest structure, and management. We analyzed five traits (i.e., specific leaf area, plant size, seed mass, belowground bud bank size, and clonal lateral spread) capturing independent functional dimensions to calculate the standardized effect size of functional diversity (SES-FD) for all traits (multi-trait) and for single traits. Multiple regression models were applied to assess the effect of predictors on SES-FD. We revealed that climate, soil, and forest structure significantly drive SES-FD of specific leaf area, plant size, seed mass, and bud bank. Forest management had a limited effect. However, differences emerged between herbaceous and woody growth forms of the understorey layer, with herbaceous species mainly responding to climate and soil features, while woody species were mainly affected by forest structure. Future warmer and more seasonal climate could reduce the diversity of resource economics, plant size, and persistence strategies of the forest understorey. Soil eutrophication and acidification may impact the diversity of regeneration strategies; canopy closure affects the diversity of above- and belowground traits, with a larger effect on woody species. Multifunctional approaches are vital to disentangle the effect of global changes on functional diversity since independent functional specialization axes are modulated by different drivers. © 2024 The Authors
Towards a tool for early detection and estimation of forest cuttings by remotely sensed data
ndvi
forest management
sentinel-2
forest policy
google earth engine
iuti database
lulucf
mediterranean areas
Mostra abstract
Knowing the extent and frequency of forest cuttings over large areas is crucial for forest inventories and monitoring. Remote sensing has amply proved its ability to detect land cover changes, particularly in forested areas. Among various strategies, those focusing on mapping using classification approaches of remotely sensed time series are the most frequently used. The main limit of such approaches stems from the difficulty in perfectly and unambiguously classifying each pixel, especially over wide areas. The same procedure is of course simpler if performed over a single pixel. An automated method for identifying forest cuttings over a predefined network of sampling points (IUTI) using multitemporal Sentinel 2 imagery is described. The method employs normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) growth trajectories to identify the presence of disturbances caused by forest cuttings using a large set of points (i.e., 1580 "forest" points). We applied the method using a total of 51 S2 images extracted from the Google Earth Engine over two years (2016 and 2017) in an area of about 70 km <sup>2</sup> in Tuscany, central Italy. © 2019 by the authors.
Towards the economic valuation of ecosystem production from cork oak forests in sardinia (Italy)
Mostra abstract
A spatially explicit approach for stand-scale economic valuation of current and future potential of cork forests with respect to ecosystem production is developed and presented. The approach, which relies in large part on the mensura-tion of stand top height and number of trees as main drivers, has been tested on the pure cork forests of Sardinia (Italy). The test was conducted to assess the effects of alternative silvicultural options on cork and fodder production, carbon sequestration, and water yield. Under current conditions, the surveyed pure cork oak forest stands in Sardinia are characterized, on average, by an annual economic production of 93 euro ha<sup>-1</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup> as concerns cork, 37 euro ha<sup>-1</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup> as concerns carbon sequestration and 261 euro ha<sup>-1</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup> as concerns water yield. The value of cork production on an 11-year cycle equals 1023 euro ha<sup>-1</sup> on average. The total economic production values among the tested silvicultural alternatives have proven to be characterized by relatively small differences, due to the trade-offs among the considered goods and services. Therefore, at least under conditions similar to those surveyed, managers may safely rely on different stand density options, without any relevant detrimental effect on total economic production. The tested spatial visualization of the economic values of goods and services production can be useful in supporting forest management planning, e.g., to identify priority areas in order to maximize ecosystem production for local communities. The approach proposed here and tested to this end proves to be readily applicable to other cork contexts with similar characteristics under Mediterranean conditions. © SISEF.
foreMast: an R package for predicting beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) masting events in European countries
forest management
climatic cues
fagus sylvatica l. (european beech)
mast event
r package
seed production
Mostra abstract
Key message: Forecasting annual seed production will improve the management of forests across Europe. The foreMast R package we developed predicts current year masting probability in beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) using climate data easily accessible by any stakeholder. Context: Modelling and predicting forest masting is one of the most challenging tasks in forest management, as it is a strategy shared by several species, very important for tree dispersion and forest regeneration, mainly related to climate and ecological processes. Aims: As many studies focus on European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) masting without simple practical implementations, we developed a tool capable of predicting beech masting years. Methods: The tool is an R package (foreMast) made by three functions, which relies mainly on climate data. The algorithm performance is compared with the records of the MASTREE database, which gather several beech seed production series for various sites across European countries. Results: Overall, the results show a tight correlation with the compared sites (ρ = 0.50 to 0.61, p-value < 0.0001, respectively), especially when temperatures weigh three times more than precipitation. Nevertheless, in some sites, seed production seems to be more related to precipitation dynamics than to temperatures. Conclusion: foreMast can be used both for studying changes in mast events in relation to climate changes and in operative forest management and planning. It is flexible and thus amenable to future implementation of additional predicting variables or target species. © 2021, INRAE and Springer-Verlag France SAS, part of Springer Nature.
Sustainable forest planning: Assessing biodiversity effects of Triad zoning based on empirical data and virtual landscapes
Duflot
,
Rémi
,
Heinrichs
,
Steffi
,
Balducci
,
Lorenzo
,
Chianucci
,
Francesco
,
Hofmeister
,
Jeňýk
,
Paillet
,
Yoan
,
Trentanovi
,
Giovanni
,
Archaux
,
Frédéric
,
Boch
,
Steffen
,
Bouget
,
Christophe
,
Dvořák
,
Daniel
,
Fischer
,
Markus
,
Gosselin
,
Frédéric
,
Gosselin
,
Marion
,
Goßner
,
Martin M.
,
Holá
,
Eva
,
Hošek
,
Jan
,
Jung
,
Kirsten G.
,
Palice
,
Zdeněk
,
Renner
,
Swen C.
,
Weisser
,
Wolfgang W.
,
Nagel
,
Thomas A.
,
Burrascano
,
Sabina
,
Schall
,
Peter
Mostra abstract
The Triad framework seeks to balance the economic and ecological functions in forested landscapes by combining intensively, extensively, and unmanaged areas, assuming a higher support to biodiversity in extensively rather than in intensively managed forests. We quantified the effects of Triad zoning on biodiversity in (sub)montane eutrophic European beech forests. Using a European-wide multitaxon database and a “virtual” landscape approach (i.e., by resampling empirical data), we evaluated how the proportion of Triad management categories affected the landscape-level species diversity of birds, saproxylic beetles, vascular plants, epiphytic bryophytes, lichens, and wood-inhabiting fungi, as well as multitaxonomic diversity. The results varied greatly among taxonomic groups. Multitaxonomic diversity peaked in landscapes composed of 60% unmanaged and 40% intensively managed forests. While intensive management can benefit some taxa through the creation of open habitats, unmanaged forests are the backbone of biodiversity conservation, underlining the need to safeguard the remaining old-growth forests under natural dynamics, and to extend the current area of unmanaged forests in Europe. Extensive forest management, however, did not contribute to biodiversity conservation as expected. As withdrawing such a high proportion of European forest landscapes from management is unfeasible given the increasing demand for timber, efforts are needed to increase the presence of structural features supporting biodiversity into extensively managed forests. © © 2025 the Author(s).
Words apart: Standardizing forestry terms and definitions across European biodiversity studies
Trentanovi
,
Giovanni
,
Campagnaro
,
Thomas
,
Sitzia
,
Tommaso
,
Chianucci
,
Francesco
,
Vacchiano
,
Giorgio
,
Ammer
,
Christian
,
Ciach
,
Michał
,
Nagel
,
Thomas A.
,
del Río
,
Miren
,
Paillet
,
Yoan
,
Munzi
,
Silvana
,
Vandekerkhove
,
Kris
,
Bravo-Oviedo
,
Andrés
,
Cutini
,
Andrea
,
D'Andrea
,
Ettore
,
de Smedt
,
Pallieter
,
Doerfler
,
Inken
,
Fotakis
,
Dimitrios G.
,
Heilmann-Clausen
,
Jacob
,
Hofmeister
,
Jeňýk
,
Hošek
,
Jan
,
Janssen
,
Philippe
,
Kepfer-Rojas
,
Sebastian
,
Korboulewsky
,
Nathalie
,
Kovács
,
Bence
,
Kozák
,
Daniel
,
Lachat
,
Thibault
,
Mårell
,
Anders
,
Matula
,
Radim
,
Mikoláš
,
Martin
,
Nordén
,
Björn
,
Ódor
,
Péter
,
Perović
,
Marko
,
Pötzelsberger
,
Elisabeth
,
Schall
,
Peter
,
Svoboda
,
Miroslav
,
Tinya
,
Flóra
,
Ujházyová
,
Mariana
,
Burrascano
,
Sabina
Mostra abstract
Forest biodiversity studies conducted across Europe use a multitude of forestry terms, often inconsistently. This hinders the comparability across studies and makes the assessment of the impacts of forest management on biodiversity highly context-dependent. Recent attempts to standardize forestry and stand description terminology mostly used a top-down approach that did not account for the perspectives and approaches of forest biodiversity experts. This work aims to establish common standards for silvicultural and vegetation definitions, creating a shared conceptual framework for a consistent study on the effects of forest management on biodiversity. We have identified both strengths and weaknesses of the silvicultural and vegetation information provided in forest biodiversity studies. While quantitative data on forest biomass and dominant tree species are frequently included, information on silvicultural activities and vegetation composition is often lacking, shallow, or based on broad and heterogeneous classifications. We discuss the existing classifications and their use in European forest biodiversity studies through a novel bottom-up and top-driven review process, and ultimately propose a common framework. This will enhance the comparability of forest biodiversity studies in Europe, and puts the basis for effective implementation and monitoring of sustainable forest management policies. The standards here proposed are potentially adaptable and applicable to other geographical areas and could be extended to other forest interventions. © 2023 The Authors
Structural attributes of stand overstory and light under the canopy
Mostra abstract
This paper reviews the literature relating to the relationship between light availability in the understory and the main qualitative and quantitative attributes of stand overstory usually considered in forest management and planning (species composition, density, tree sizes, etc.) as well as their changes as consequences of harvesting. The paper is divided in two sections: the first one reviews studies which investigated the influence of species composition on understory light conditions; the second part examines research on the relationships among stand parameters determined from mensurational field data and the radiation on understory layer. The objective was to highlight which are the most significant stand traits and management features to build more practical models for predicting light regimes in any forest stand and, in more general terms, to support forest managers in planning and designing silvicultural treatments that retain structure in different way in order to meet different objectives.
Mast seeding in deciduous forests of the northern Apennines (Italy) and its influence on wild boar population dynamics
Cutini
,
Andrea
,
Chianucci
,
Francesco
,
Chirichella
,
Roberta
,
Donaggio
,
Emanuela
,
Mattioli
,
Luca
,
Apollonio
,
Marco
forest management
forest seed production
game management
pulsed resource
silvicultural treatment
sus scrofa l.
Mostra abstract
Context: Pulsed food resources may strongly affect the population dynamics of several consumer species, with consequences on the ecosystem. One of the most common pulsed resources is forest mast seeding. Aims: We analysed mast seeding in deciduous forests in a mountainous area of northern Apennines and its effect on population dynamics of wild boar (Sus scrofa L.). Methods: We performed a quantitative, 20-year analysis on annual seed production in Turkey oak (Quercus cerris L.), beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) forest stands using litter traps. The wild boar population density was estimated by means of drive censuses and hunting bag records. The role of other biotic (density of predators) and abiotic (climate) factors potentially affecting wild boar mortality was also investigated. Results: Turkey oak and chestnut showed high levels of seed production, whereas lower levels were found in beech. The pulsed resources of chestnut and Turkey oak positively affected piglet density. Analyses also highlighted the influence of snow cover and wolves on wild boar population dynamics. Conclusion: Wild boar can be considered a pulse rate species, the management of which can be improved by annual monitoring of seed production. © 2013 INRA and Springer-Verlag France.