0000000000181484
AUTHOR
Piermaria Corona
Assessing the biomass of shrubs typical of Mediterranean pre-forest communities
One of the most outstanding issues of current environmental research is the need of reliable assessments of carbon stock (i.e. above-ground (a.g.) and below-ground biomass, deadwood, litter, and organic soil matter) within forest ecosystems. Although shrub vegetation plays an important role in accumulating carbon in many Mediterranean environments, there is still very little knowledge on the carbon they store. In this article, we analyze the a.g. carbon stock of several Mediterranean shrubby communities in Sicily (Italy), dominated by Pistacia lentiscus, Chamaerops humilis, Euphorbia dendroides and Spartium junceum. Plant samples for each species were selected, and morphometric attributes (…
LaDy: Software for assessing local landscape diversity profiles of raster land cover maps using geographic windows
Landscape ecology starts from the assumption that diversity and spatial arrangement of ecosystem mosaics have ecological implications and tries to understand the interactions between diversity and structure of large spatially heterogeneous areas and their ecological functions. These assumptions imply effective use of earth observation techniques and geographic information systems, enabling a global view of the landscape mosaics. In this paper, a software, LaDy (Landscape Diversity Software), for computing Re´nyi’s local landscape diversity profile on raster land cover maps is presented. LaDy is based on the use of Merchant’s adaptive geographic window, which is designed to operate on a neig…
Tavole di cubatura di popolamento per i soprassuoli forestali della Sicilia.
Obiettivo del lavoro e la messa a punto di tavole di cubatura di popolamento per la stima statistica, in maniera rapida, facilmente applicabile e con adeguata attendibilita, delle masse legnose dei boschi ordinariamente governati a ceduo e a fustaia. Nella presente nota viene illustrata l’analisi statistica condotta per la preparazione dei modelli matematici di predizione del volume della massa legnosa a ettaro, vengono riportati i risultati ottenuti e sono discusse le modalita di applicazione dei modelli elaborati. L’impiego delle tavole di popolamento e indicato soprattutto nelle situazioni in cui sia possibile adottare procedure speditive per la determinazione dell’area basimetrica per u…
Carbon storage of Mediterranean grasslands
Secondary grasslands are one of the most common vegetation types worldwide. In Europe, and in the Mediterranean basin, human activities have transformed many woodlands into secondary grasslands. Despite their recognized role in the global carbon cycle, very few data are available for estimating the biomass of Mediterranean grasslands. We developed linear regression models in order to predict the biomass of two native Mediterranean grasses (Ampelodesmos mauritanicus and Hyparrhenia hirta) and an invasive alien grass (Pennisetum setaceum). Ampelodesmos mauritanicus is very common throughout the Mediterranean basin, mostly on north-facing slopes, H. hirta characterizes thermo-xeric grasslands,…
Fitting the Stocking Rate with Pastoral Resources to Manage and Preserve Mediterranean Forestlands: A Case Study
Pasture practices have affected Mediterranean forest ecosystems for millennia, and they are still quite widespread in mountainous areas. Nevertheless, in the last decades, the stability of forest ecosystems has been jeopardized due to the abandonment of traditional agro-pastoral practices, so that the gradual reduction of open areas due to progressive succession processes has caused a high increase of grazing pressure by livestock and wild ungulates feeding on forest areas. This paper aims at showing a methodological approach for evaluating the effect of applying measures in order to improve the grazing value of grasslands and ecotonal patches and lower the grazing impact on native woodland…
Assessing forest landscape structure using geographic windows.
Landscape structure, interpreted as indicator of functional processes, has become a main attribute of multiresource forest inventories, enhancing its value with respect to society needs. This approach implies effective use of earth observation techniques and geographic information systems to obtain a global view of the inventoried landscapes and to understand the ecological functions of large spatially-heterogeneous landscape mosaics. Landscape structure often reveal extremely complex patterns that can only be very roughly characterized by methods of Euclidean geometry. Conversely, fractals can be applied to adequately describe many of the irregular, fragmented patterns found in nature. In …
Beware of contagion!
Landscape ecology starts from the assumption that diversity and spatial arrangement of ecosystem mosaics has ecological implications and tries to understand the interactions between diversity and structure of large spatially heterogeneous areas and its ecological functions. This approach implies effective use of earth observation techniques and geographic information systems, enabling a global view of the landscape mosaics. Consequently, a large number of indices has been used to quantify the structure of categorical maps as a surrogate of actual landscapes and correlate them to ecological processes. In particular, the entropy-based contagion index has been extensively used to summarize the…
Testing Ikonos and Landsat 7 ETM+ Potential for Stand-Level Forest Type Mapping by Soft Supervised Approaches
Forest types can be adopted as a suitable reference for classifying survey units within multipurpose forest resources inventories, at the properly considered level. This kind of hierarchical classification approach integrates an ecologically meaningful per-habitat perspective with practical survey, planning and management requirements. Advanced remote sensing technologies can be valuable tools for a cost-effective implementation of such an approach. In the present paper, data from high (Landsat 7 ETM+) and very high (Ikonos) spatial resolution satellite sensors were tested to understand their potential contribution supporting stand-level forest type mapping under Mediterranean conditions. I…
Prospettive e potenzialità della digitalizzazione del settore forestale in Italia
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play a key role for improving the implementation of sustainable forest management at local, regional, and global level. The ICT potential to easily exploit a wider and more up-to-date set of information on the economic, environmental, and so- cial value of forests is of relevant help for the daily work of technicians, land owners, and companies in boosting the efficiency and effectiveness of forest management. The concept of “Precision Forestry” (PF) was developed from the early 2000s, as a branch of precision farming or precision agriculture. PF includes the use of ICT, remote and proximal sensing technologies, and other devices to coordinat…
Sistemi di tariffe di cubatura per le fustaie di pino d'Aleppo, pino laricio e pino domestico della Sicilia
Obiettivo del presente lavoro e la messa a punto di sistemi di tariffe validi per la cubatura delle masse legnose dei principali soprassuoli di conifere della Sicilia: in particolare, i sistemi proposti si basano sull’elaborazione delle serie di inquadramento delle relazioni ipsodiametriche per il pino domestico, il pino d’Aleppo e il pino laricio. Per ciascuna specie e stato studiato l’andamento della distribuzione dei valori ipsodiametrici, risultato ben rappresentato da una forma funzionale di tipo semilogaritmico utilizzabile come «curva guida» delle serie di inquadramento delle relazioni ipsodiametriche. Adottando l’inclinazione stimata in base alla curva guida e adattando le singole s…
Modeling the influence of alternative forest management scenarios on wood production and carbon storage: A case study in the Mediterranean region
Forest ecosystems are fundamental for the terrestrial biosphere as they deliver multiple essential ecosystem services (ES). In environmental management, understanding ES distribution and interactions and assessing the economic value of forest ES represent future challenges. In this study, we developed a spatially explicit method based on a multi-scale approach (MiMoSe-Multiscale Mapping of ecosystem services) to assess the current and future potential of a given forest area to provide ES. To do this we modified and improved the InVEST model in order to adapt input data and simulations to the context of Mediterranean forest ecosystems. Specifically, we integrated a GIS-based model, scenario …
Informational analysis of forest landscape spatial heterogeneity
Summary Under the perspective of forest ecosystem management, landscape is interpreted as a functioning structure. From an inventory and monitoring operational point of view, such an approach implies wise use of geographic information systems and remote sensing techniques enabling a global view of the territorial mosaic. From a methodological point of view, landscape ecology theory may be used as the assessment framework. Remotely sensed data provide excellent opportunities for the involved analyses, using both vegetation density measures and spatial statistics. The objective of this paper was to assess landscape spatial heterogeneity using an analysis method based on Shannon's information …
Forest ecosystem inventory and monitoring as a framework for terrestrial natural renewable resources survey programmes
The established practice of forest ecosystem inventory and monitoring is recognised as a main support for terrestrial natural renewable resource survey programmes. Inventory and monitoring programmes focused on an overall assessment of ecosystem attributes evolving into global environmental survey programmes have been devised, but implementation is still quite contradictory. The state-of-the-art is discussed here, with special reference to the European Union and Italy. Topical issues are reviewed, with selective concern to: remote sensing capability, probability sampling, forest type (habitat) classification and landscape ecology, sustainable management indicators. Benefits brought by infor…
Site quality evaluation by classification tree: an application to cork quality in Sardinia
Cork harvesting and stopper production represent a major forest industry in Sardinia (Italy). The target of the present investigation was to evaluate the ‘‘classification tree’’ as a tool to discover possible relationships between microsite characteristics and cork quality. Seven main cork oak (Quercus suber) producing areas have been identified in Sardinia, for a total of more than 122,000 ha. Sixty-three sample trees, distributed among different geographical locations and microsite conditions, were selected. A soil profile near each sample tree was described, soil samples were collected and analysed. After debarking, cork quality of each sample tree was graded by an independent panel of e…
Rimboschimenti e lotta alla desertificazione In Italia
Questa monografia propone una lettura critica sul ruolo attuale del rimboschimento nella prevenzione e mitigazione dei processi di desertificazione in Italia. Le potenzialità del rimboschimento sono inquadrate in una prospettiva multifunzionale e sinergica che comprende le ricadute ambientali di questa attività anche in termini di assorbimento del carbonio atmosferico e potenziamento della biodiversità, oltre che di conservazione del suolo e recupero e riqualificazione di paesaggi degradati. L’obiettivo è delineare una strategia di lotta alla desertificazione applicabile a livello regionale, nel quadro degli strumenti programmatici e di governo del territorio rurale e fornire orientamenti t…