Adaptive forest governance to face land use change impacts in Italy: a review

Il cambiamento dell’uso del suolo è uno dei driver principali della riduzione della resilienza ecosistemica, così come della perdita di biodiversità e approvvigionamento di servizi. Rappresenta una sfida peculiare, specialmente negli ambienti mediterranei, dove i fenomeni di abbandono e ricolonizzazione naturale stanno minacciando in modo sempre più crescente la capacità delle foreste di fornire benefici alle comunità locali. In queste condizioni, il sistema di governance forestale è chiamato a bilanciare gli impatti del cambiamento dell’uso del suolo con l’assicurazione della salute e della stabilità degli ecosistemi forestali, al fine di garantire la sostenibilità a lungo termine degli ambienti, soprattutto di quelli marginali. Questo lavoro si propone di analizzare in modo più approfondito gli impatti del cambiamento dell’uso del suolo sugli ecosistemi forestali negli ambienti montani italiani. In primo luogo, esegue un’analisi bibliografica dei concetti legati al cambiamento dell’uso del suolo e all’approvvigionamento dei servizi ecosistemici, dalla scala globale a quella locale. In seguito, indaga le relazioni fra le potenzialità adattive di gestione e pianificazione forestali e il cambiamento dell’uso del suolo. Infine, vengono proposte alcune strategie future di possibili strumenti di governance adattiva per affrontare i cambiamenti dell’uso del suolo. Questa infatti può migliorare la resilienza degli ecosistemi forestali riducendo il gap nel campo della ricerca tra il contesto nazionale e quello globale, utilizzando strumenti di valutazione e monitoraggio per simulare cambiamenti e disturbi esterni, e adottando strategie e misure politiche coerenti a scala locale.Land use change is one of the most important drivers for the reduction of ecosystem resilience, and the loss ofbiodiversity and services provision. This is a peculiar challenge, especially in Mediterranean mountain environments,where abandonment and forest transition phenomena increasingly threaten the forest capacity to provide benefits for local communities. Under these conditions, forest governance is called to balance the landuse change impacts and the health and stability of forest ecosystems, in order to ensure the long-term sustainabilityof such marginal environments. This paper aims at deeper understanding the impacts of land use change on forest ecosystem on mountain environments in Italy. At first, a downscaled review on the conceptsof land use change and ecosystem services provision is carried out. Then, according to the review results, therelationships between adaptive capacity of forest management and planning, and land use change is deeply described. Finally, future-oriented strategies of adaptive governance to face land use change are proposed. Inthe context of land use change, adaptive governance can improve forest resilience through filling the researchgaps between the national and the global contexts, adopting monitoring and assessment tools to simulate external changes and disturbances, and effectively implement consistent policy measures and strategies at localscale

Integrated forest management to prevent wildfi res under mediterranean environments

This review presents a multidisciplinary framework for integrating the ecological, regulatory, procedural and technical aspects of forest management for fi res prevention under Mediterranean environments. The aims are to: i) provide a foreground of wildfi re scenario; ii) illustrate the theoretical background of forest fuel management; iii) describe the available fuel management techniques and mechanical operations for fi re prevention in forest and wildland-urban interfaces, with exemplifi cation of case-studies; iv) allocate fi re prevention activities under the hierarchy of forest planning. The review is conceived as an outline commentary discussion targeted to professionals, technicians and government personnel involved in forestry and environmental managemen

The first period of the 2002 Etna eruption (27 October-5 November): preliminary results

We report on the first period of the 2002 Etna eruption started on 27th October and ended on 5th November, occurring 15 months after the end of the 2001 eruption. Volcanological and geochemical data are presented in order to characterize the complex intrusion mechanism that contemporaneously involved the NE and S flanks of the volcano. Preliminary data outline that two distinct magma intrusions fed the eruptive fissures. Strong fire fountain activity mainly from the S fissure, produced copious ash fall in eastern Sicily, causing prolonged closure of Catania and Reggio Calabria airports. Lava emitted from the NE fissure formed a 6.2 km long lava flow field that destroyed the tourist facilities of Piano Provenzana area and part of Linguaglossa pine forest.Published1-10reserve

Prediction of competition indices in a Norway spruce and silver fir-dominated forest using Lidar data

Competitive interactions are important predictors of tree growth. Spatial and temporal changes in resource availability, and variation in species and spatial patterning of trees alter competitive interactions, thus affecting tree growth and, hence, biomass. Competition indices are used to quantify the level of competition among trees. As these indices are normally computed only over small areas, where field measurements are done, it would be useful to have a tool to predict them over large areas. On this regard, remote sensing, and in particular light detection and ranging (lidar) data, could be the perfect tool. The objective of this study was to use lidar metrics to predict competition (on the basis of distance-dependent competition indices) of individual trees and to relate them with tree aboveground biomass (AGB). The selected study area was a mountain forest area located in the Italian Alps. The analyses focused on the two dominant species of the area: Silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst). The results showed that lidar metrics could be used to predict competition indices of individual trees (R2 above 0.66). Moreover, AGB decreased as competition increased, suggesting that variations in the availability of resources in the soil, and the ability of plants to withstand competition for light may influence the partitioning of biomas