The cork oak forests management in Sicily: current situation and potentiality

The economic importance of cork forests is mainly attributable to the role of provisioning non-timber forest products that they have played and still play in the Mediterranean region. In Sicily, according to the latest regional forest inventory (IFRS, 2010), the surface covered by cork forests amounts to 14,732 ha; the 52.4% of this area is not affected by cultural practices, while in the 41.3% of cases productive cultural practices are adopted. In fact, the prevailing silvicultural system type is the peculiar one aimed at the cork production. The cultural abandonment of many cork oak stands threatens their survival because of the close link between the conservation of cork stands and its u…

La Betulla dell’Etna: uno studio multidisciplinare sui fattori di deperimento della specie

La betulla dell’Etna (Betula aetnensis Rafin), è una delle specie arboree che durante le ultime glaciazioni si è spinta verso sud e dove oggi costituisce popolazioni pressoché relitte localizzate esclusivamente in Sicilia sulla sommità dell’Etna. I betulleti sono presenti sui versanti orientali ed occidentali dell’Etna, ad un’altitudine compresa tra 1.400 e 2.000 m s.l.m. Si tratta di popolamenti pionieri che colonizzano substrati vulcanici inalterati e/o poco evoluti dove costituiscono a volte dei piccoli boschi puri o misti a pino laricio. Questi boschi in passato erano sottoposti a ceduazioni, che dal 1987 non sono state più eseguite a seguito della istituzione del Parco Regionale dell’E…

The Italian Plum Rootstock Trial: Results for Sicilian Environmental Conditions

Climate-growth relationships of Quercus gussonei (Borzì) Brullo in the Mediterranean region: adaptive traits and water use efficiency.

Due to their marginal distribution, peripheral tree populations are highly vulnerable and are more likely to be influenced by extreme climate conditions. This occurrence is known to cause dieback in many species at their Mediterranean margins. Quercus gussonei (Borzì) Brullo is a deciduous oak endemic of Sicily. It is a thermophilous, peripheral form of Quercus cerris L. which is showing an incipient but ongoing decline. A deeper ecophysiological knowledge is urgently needed on this species in order to plan proper conservation actions and reduce the risk of its extinction. In the aim to understand at what extent changes in environmental conditions could be responsible for Q. gussonei declin…

Impacts of urban environment on the eco-physiological responses of trees: Tree-Talker (TT) new devices for the monitoring of trees

Urban ecosystems will become increasingly important in the coming years. Urban trees are likely to increase in importance to society as their value in enhancing people's sense of well-being as well as the direct economic impacts are increasingly recognized. Urban forest monitoring data are essential to assess the impacts of tree planting campaigns and management programs. Tree-Talker (TT) is a device based ton the Internet of Things (IoT) technology for the monitoring of trees physical and physiological conditions. The TT allows the monitoring of (i) multispectral measurements of the sunlight transmitted through the canopy in 12 bands across the visible and near infra-red spectra; (ii) sap …

Ostrya carpinifolia Scop. (fam. Betulaceae) a Ficuzza (Monti Sicani, provincia di Palermo): note ecologiche e demografiche

XIPE: the x-ray imaging polarimetry explorer

XIPE, the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer, is a mission dedicated to X-ray Astronomy. At the time of writing XIPE is in a competitive phase A as fourth medium size mission of ESA (M4). It promises to reopen the polarimetry window in high energy Astrophysics after more than 4 decades thanks to a detector that efficiently exploits the photoelectric effect and to X-ray optics with large effective area. XIPE uniqueness is time-spectrally-spatially- resolved X-ray polarimetry as a breakthrough in high energy astrophysics and fundamental physics. Indeed the payload consists of three Gas Pixel Detectors at the focus of three X-ray optics with a total effective area larger than one XMM mirror bu…

Recovery and genotyping ancient Sicilian monumental olive trees

The long-lived and evergreen olive tree dominates the Mediterranean landscape, representing an agroecological and cultural symbol and a genetic heritage of inestimable value. Sicily, for historical, geographical, and cultural reasons, has a very rich and distinctive olive germplasm. In this work, a large survey was conducted to discover, collect, and characterize the genetic diversity of centennial monumental olive trees from historical sites, such as the Greek Temple Valley (Agrigento), ancient gardens, or farmland present in the western part of the island. Trees were chosen based on their height, trunk, stump size, and presumed age; particularly, only olive trees with an age estimated at …

Climatic signals of tree-ring in Quercus gussonei (Borzì) Brullo in the Mediterranean region

Change in growth is among the primary response of trees to environmental variation. Tree-rings contain a wealth of information related to the climatic conditions. A dendroclimatic study on Quercus gussonei (Borzì) Brullo was carried out in the Nature Reserve of “Bosco della Ficuzza, Rocca Busambra, Bosco Del Cappelliere, Gorgo Del Drago” (southern Italy). Q. gussonei is an endemic deciduous oak and thermophilous form of Quercus cerris L. that is found only in Sicily, although with clear sign of decline. The knowledge of ecology of this species should help to establish criteria for forest conservation in the Mediterranean region. For definining the ecological character and understanding the …