Buone prassi per la riduzione degli impatti durante le operazioni di esbosco
La pubblicazione affronta varie tematiche inerenti l'impiego di macchine e attrezzature altamente meccanizzate per l'esbosco dei prodotti legnosi e analizza in dettaglio le buone prassi raccomandate per ridurre gli impatti al suolo di macchine che sono sempre più potenti e pesanti. Risultati conclusivi del progetto SKIDDFORW
Charcoal and stable soil organic matter as indicators of fire frequency, climate and past vegetation in volcanic soils of Mt. Etna, Sicily
Abstract Charcoal fragments in soils are useful to reconstruct past vegetation because the level of preservation is often good enough to determine the tree genus. All forest ecosystems have the potential to burn as a result of naturally occurring or human-induced fires. Forest fires are coupled to climate and are a not-negligible factor of pedogenesis in Mediterranean areas, where they occur frequently. Furthermore, soil organic matter (SOM) is prone to undergo peculiar changes due to forest fires, both in terms of quantity and quality. A soil sequence along an elevational gradient ranging from Mediterranean to subalpine climate zones on slopes of Mt. Etna (Sicily, Italy) was investigated i…
Impacts of wood extraction on soil: assessing rutting and soil compaction caused by skidding and forwarding by means of traditional and innovative methods
AbstractIntensive forestry operations may cause soil compaction, plastic soil disturbances and rutting, which are responsible for undesirable effects on soils, vegetation and water bodies. Despite the numerous studies aimed to identify the main factors affecting soil damages, it still remains unclear whether wood extraction methods and driving direction (uphill or downhill) may affect the impacts of forest machines. This research analyses soil compaction and soil penetration resistance as well as rutting from forwarding and skidding using the same farm tractor in up- and downhill wood extraction. Rutting was estimated by 3D soil reconstruction derived by portable laser scanning (PLS) and cl…