Search results for " Quercus"
showing 4 items of 24 documents
Il ruolo del fico d’india nei processi di recupero spontaneo della vegetazione arborea in aree a rischio di desertificazione della Sicilia
2019
In aree sensibili al rischio di desertificazione, individuare modalità appropriate per favorire il recupero delle dinamiche evolutive naturali, e la ricostituzione di ecosistemi e cenosi forestali in equilibrio con le condizioni macroclimatiche, è di estrema importanza. A seguito dell’intenso sfruttamento antropico dei secoli passati, infatti, vaste aree interne e marginali del Mediterraneo si presentano ormai del tutto prive di copertura forestale, sono fortemente suscettibili all’innesco di diffusi processi erosivi e sono interessate da dinamiche vegetazionali regressive. Per valutare il possibile ruolo ecologico giocato dal fico d’india (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.) nel promuovere di…
Recovery of cork forests and enhancement of by-products
2022
Cork oak (Quercus suber L.) is a tree species native to the western Mediterranean Basin (EUFORGEN 2019). Cork oak forests are human-shaped ecosystems that have to be managed to be preserved in a long-term perspective. Cork oak stands range from closed forests to open woodlands, provide high ecosystem services, mainly through cork production, support high biodiversity and provide carbon storage and water regulation services. Due to their important ecological role, these ecosystems are listed in the European Habitats Directive (Habitat 9330: Quercus suber forests, EEC, 1992). In the last years, especially in Italy, cork oak stands are undergoing a relevant regression due to the decline of tra…
Carbon stock increases up to old growth forest along a secondary succession in Mediterranean island ecosystems.
2019
The occurrence of old-growth forests is quite limited in Mediterranean islands, which have been subject to particularly pronounced human impacts. Little is known about the carbon stocks of such peculiar ecosystems compared with different stages of secondary succession. We investigated the carbon variation in aboveground woody biomass, in litter and soil, and the nitrogen variation in litter and soil, in a 100 years long secondary succession in Mediterranean ecosystems. A vineyard, three stages of plant succession (high maquis, maquis-forest, and forest-maquis), and an old growth forest were compared. Soil samples at two soil depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm), and two litter types, relatively undec…
Vegetation dynamics on abandoned terraces of Sicily: the course and driving forces of succession
2007
In Mediterranean Europe, terrace landscapes can be found where 1) the orography is characterized by hills or mountains, 2) there is a high amount of stone outcrops and 3) the human need for agricultural production was quite high till the recent past. During the last century, many of these landscapes have been abandoned, due to their unsuitability for mechanized, intensive agriculture and due to the general land abandonment trend which arised in large parts of Europe. Since with land abandonment start secondary succession processes, the plant and animal communities linked to agroecosystems are replaced by other species which find their habitat in the developing succession stages. This proces…