Synergies of planning for forests and planning for Natura 2000: Evidences and prospects from northern Italy

Improvements in the management of Natura 2000 sites are essential to achieve the targets set out by the Habitats and Birds Directives of the European Union. A current focus is on the development of management plans, which are fundamental instruments in the implementation of conservation measures. This study explores the viability of using existing forest plans to assist in this purpose. As case study, we consider the regulatory framework of the Veneto Region, northern Italy. We collected quantitative and qualitative data on forest plans at the regional and at three sub-regional spatial scales: local, district, and biogeographical. Forest plans cover about 54% of the terrestrial area of Natura 2000 sites in Veneto, and 75% of Sites of Community Importance in the Alpine biogeographical region. At the local scale of analysis, metrics from forest plans represent a valuable historical record which can be used to interpret the current state and future trends, especially for forests with long management records. These data can be used to assess biodiversity indicators for the monitoring of Natura 2000 forest and non-forest habitats, in compliance with Article 17 of the Habitats Directive. Moreover, the heterogeneous stand conditions which are promoted by some forest management approaches can improve the conservation efforts for some habitats and species. The scale of local forest plans are typically the most appropriate for implementing habitat management strategies. From this study, we conclude that management authorities should take advantage of the wide spatial coverage and distribution of existing forest plans, especially in mountain areas inside and outside the Natura 2000 network, for the successful conservation of European Union habitats and species

Contested novel ecosystems: Socio-ecological processes and evidence from Italy

open4noIn the context of contemporary global climate and environmental change, both natural and social scientists have stressed the role green areas play in global warming adaptation strategies and in improving the healthiness of the urban environment. Indeed, in recent years these spaces have become central to institutional political debates and various policies have been designed for their valorization. However, little attention has been paid to rewilded urban spaces, recently defined as novel urban ecosystems, and to their socio-ecological complexity. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach that links natural and social science perspectives, this article aims to highlight the role of novel urban ecosystems in the reconfiguration of urban policies. Indeed, this contribution analyzes ecosystem services coupled with the hybrid, contested socio-ecological nature of four case studies in Italy characterized by grassroots socio-environmental mobilization. Data were collected through comparative quantitative and qualitative methods. The evidence shows that the specific ecological features of novel urban ecosystems are strategic in terms of actual and potential ecosystem service provision for cities and suggests that citizens play a fundamental role in recognizing and valorizing them. In parallel, these spaces, reconceptualized as contested novel ecosystems, emerge as controversial hybrid urban socio-natures that enable community empowerment and produce a heterogeneous, grassroots political space oriented towards urban commons and environmental-climate justiceopenTrentanovi, Giovanni; Zinzani, Andrea; Bartoletti, Roberta; Montanari, FedericoTrentanovi, Giovanni; Zinzani, Andrea; Bartoletti, Roberta; Montanari, Federic

Words apart: Standardizing forestry terms and definitions across European biodiversity studies

Forest biodiversity studies conducted across Europe use a multitude of forestry terms, often inconsistently. This hinders the comparability across studies and makes the assessment of the impacts of forest management on biodiversity highly context-dependent. Recent attempts to standardize forestry and stand description terminology mostly used a top-down approach that did not account for the perspectives and approaches of forest biodiversity experts. This work aims to establish common standards for silvicultural and vegetation definitions, creating a shared conceptual framework for a consistent study on the effects of forest management on biodiversity. We have identified both strengths and weaknesses of the silvicultural and vegetation information provided in forest biodiversity studies. While quantitative data on forest biomass and dominant tree species are frequently included, information on silvicultural activities and vegetation composition is often lacking, shallow, or based on broad and heterogeneous classifications. We discuss the existing classifications and their use in European forest biodiversity studies through a novel bottom-up and top-driven review process, and ultimately propose a common framework. This will enhance the comparability of forest biodiversity studies in Europe, and puts the basis for effective implementation and monitoring of sustainable forest management policies. The standards here proposed are potentially adaptable and applicable to other geographical areas and could be extended to other forest interventions. Forest management Multi-taxon Terminology Silviculture Data harmonizationpublishedVersio

Where are we now with European forest multi-taxon biodiversity and where can we head to?

The European biodiversity and forest strategies rely on forest sustainable management (SFM) to conserve forest biodiversity. However, current sustainability assessments hardly account for direct biodiversity indicators. We focused on forest multi-taxon biodiversity to: i) gather and map the existing information; ii) identify knowledge and research gaps; iii) discuss its research potential. We established a research network to fit data on species, standing trees, lying deadwood and sampling unit description from 34 local datasets across 3591 sampling units. A total of 8724 species were represented, with the share of common and rare species varying across taxonomic classes: some included many species with several rare ones (e.g., Insecta); others (e.g., Bryopsida) were represented by few common species. Tree-related structural attributes were sampled in a subset of sampling units (2889; 2356; 2309 and 1388 respectively for diameter, height, deadwood and microhabitats). Overall, multitaxon studies are biased towards mature forests and may underrepresent the species related to other developmental phases. European forest compositional categories were all represented, but beech forests were overrepresented as compared to thermophilous and boreal forests. Most sampling units (94%) were referred to a habitat type of conservation concern. Existing information may support European conservation and SFM strategies in: (i) methodological harmonization and coordinated monitoring; (ii) definition and testing of SFM indicators and thresholds; (iii) data-driven assessment of the effects of environmental and management drivers on multi-taxon forest biological and functional diversity, (iv) multi-scale forest monitoring integrating in-situ and remotely sensed information. Forest biodiversity Multi-taxon Sustainable management Biodiversity conservation Forest stand structurepublishedVersio

Vascular plant species diversity in fragmented secondary plant communities: a landscape ecology approach

Landscape ecology has been defined in a variety of different ways, but the common theme is the study of the ecological effects of ecosystem spatial patterning. Since the long history of landscape alteration has created novel systems with unknown dynamics, new tools are necessary to understand, manage and restore human dominated landscapes, preventing the loss of biodiversity. Among all, habitat fragmentation is the main process which affects biodiversity especially in human dominated landscapes. This thesis is based on three research papers concerning the evaluation of plant species diversity in fragmented and secondary plant communities. Moreover, the effect of natural reforestation process on biodiversity of secondary plant communities was investigated through a review paper. Focusing in each paper on different specific objectives due to the variability of landscape context and habitat type, the overall goal of this work was to detect spatial and management components influencing vascular plant species diversity. Through the different tools and methodologies used in each case study, we want to demonstrate the great applicability and versatility of landscape ecology approach both in theory and practice. The analyses were conducted on three fragmented secondary plant communities, i.e. meadow-pastures (Paper II), recent secondary woodlands (Paper III) and hedgerows (Paper IV), scattered in a dominant matrix type. Paper III was done during the collaboration with the Technische Universität of Berlin (Department of Ecology) during my research period abroad. The case studies were conducted both at patch and at landscape level, considering actual field data and management variables of the secondary plant communities surveyed (patch level) and the analysis of landscape asset around (landscape level). The latter was performed by GIS analysis. Regression models were used to relate plant species diversity to spatial and management variables. The survival of species depends on landscape dynamics and on spatial plant community configuration (Paper I). More specifically, where environmental site condition and management variables have not impact on secondary community variability and they did not differ between the surveyed communities, plant species diversity can be deeply influenced by spatial variables (Paper II and III). On the contrary, where management variables have a strong effect on secondary community alteration, i.e. in agrarian hedgerows, this effect is independent from the landscape assets of the different surveyed sites (Paper IV). In general, the integrative methods used by the “landscape ecology approach” allowed us to quantify in a holistic way complex natural-cultural patterns and processes on different time-space scales that influenced vascular plant species diversity.L’ecologia del paesaggio studia l’influenza dei pattern spaziali sui flussi di specie. La continua frammentazione ed alterazione delle fitocenosi in paesaggi antropizzati rende necessario comprendere le dinamiche delle comunità vegetali che caratterizzano il paesaggio antropizzato, cercando di evitare il più possibile la perdita di diversità biologica che spesso è conseguenza di tali trasformazioni. La mia tesi è basata su tre articoli di ricerca riguardanti l’analisi della diversità della flora vascolare in fitocenosi secondarie e frammentate. In un lavoro di review invece, è stato analizzato l’effetto della riforestazione spontanea su fitocenosi secondarie a seguito dell’abbandono delle pratiche agricole. Ciascun lavoro è stato caratterizzato da specifici obiettivi, adattati in base alla variabilità del paesaggio e del tipo di fitocenosi secondaria indagata. Ciononostante, l’obiettivo comune di questa tesi è stato quello di esaminare l’influenza delle variabili di paesaggio e gestionali sulla variabilità della flora vascolare, tramite l’utilizzo di metodologie e strumenti propri dell’ecologia del paesaggio. Le analisi sono state effettuate in tre fitocenosi secondarie e frammentate, i.e. pascoli (Paper II), neoformazioni boschive (Paper III) e siepi rurali (Paper IV), inserite all’interno di differenti matrici paesaggistiche. Il terzo caso di studio (Paper III) è stato sviluppato in collaborazione con la Technische Universität di Berlino durante il mio periodo di dottorato all’estero. Le analisi sono state effettuate sia a livello di patch che di paesaggio, considerando quindi congiuntamente i rilievi floristici e le variabili gestionali (livello di patch) e l’analisi dell’assetto paesaggistico attorno alle fitocenosi indagate (livello di paesaggio). Le analisi di paesaggio sono state effettuate tramite strumenti GIS. Vari modelli di regressione sono stati utilizzati per mettere in relazione la diversità di specie vascolari con le variabili di paesaggio e gestionali. La sopravvivenza delle specie dipende profondamente dalle dinamiche del paesaggio e dalla sua configurazione spaziale (Paper I). Più nello specifico, nei casi di studio in cui le variabili stazionali e gestionali sono ininfluenti o omogenee in tutti i siti, la diversità di specie vascolari è profondamente influenzata dalle variabili spaziali (Paper II e III). Dove invece la gestione altera sostanzialmente l’equilibrio della fitocenosi, l’effetto è indipendente dalle variabili di paesaggio (Paper IV). In generale, i principi ed i metodi dell’ecologia del paesaggio che sono stati utilizzati nei casi di studio presentati, hanno permesso di quantificare precisamente i processi e le dinamiche che influenzano la diversità di specie vascolari a differnti scale spaziali e temporali

Biodiversità nel paesaggio rurale: relazioni tra struttura e flora delle siepi della saccisica (Padova, Nord Italia)

This work talks about the structure and the biodiversity of the area around Piove di Sacco; through the analysis of the biometry and the herbaceous plants me have studied the relationships between physical and ecological parameters. Il presente elaborato di tesi riguarda la struttura e la biodiversità delle siepi della Saccisica; attraverso l'analisi della biometria di quest'ultime ed il rilievo della flora erbacea presente all'interno si è indagato sulle relazioni esistenti tra parametri fisici, biologici e di biodiversità

Maggengo meadow patches enclosed by forests in the Italian Alps: evidence of landscape legacy on plant diversity

The maggenghi are mid slope meadows typical of all the southern and of great parts of the northern European Alps, for centuries managed with traditional and low intensity techniques. Usually, they are scattered patches in surrounding forests. The spontaneous expansion of trees and shrubs, favored by the recent decline of mountain agriculture, lead the maggengo patches patterns and shapes to change. Our objective was to analyze the effect of this change on current plant diversity of the remnant patches, as the adaptive response could be slow and possibly related more to historical than to current landscape patterns. We analyzed the trend of the size, shape, elongation, fractal dimension and connectivity of maggengo patches of a Central-Eastern Italian Alpine district, in four time steps, from 1973 to 2006, and in 1859, when mountain agriculture was still widespread. Then, we studied the relationships between those landscape metrics and two current patch-level plant diversity measures: interior species richness and species density. Aerial photographs were used to investigate that trend, while a historical cadastral map was used to assess the landscape metrics in 1859. As expected, in the last 30 years, the total size of maggenghi has been reduced by 57% while their shapes have been progressively simplified. Interior species richness was positively related to size, both in 2006 and over the past 30 years, but not to any 1859 measures. Conversely, species density was positively correlated only with 1859 size, shape index and connectivity. We conclude that the historical shape, size and connectivity are some of the key variables affecting the plant species density of maggengo patches, but not of their interior plant species richness

Fisionomia e distribuzione dei prati montani (maggenghi) in 150 anni di avanzamento spontaneo del bosco (Val di Pejo, Trentino)

Through the classification of current and historical aerial photosbetween 1973 and 2006, we analysed the evolution of size, shape and connectivity of 59 mountain meadows (maggenghi) of the Pejo district (Trentino, Northern Italy). The maggenghi are scattered patches within a forested matrix. We conducted the same analysis on an Austro-Hungarian cadastral map of 1859. The total surface covered by maggenghi was 137.4 ha in 1973, and decreased to 78.3 ha (57%) in 2006. The mean shape and connectivity index in 1973 are significantly lower than those of 2006. Within a 1-km radius around the studied patches, woodlands increased by 7% in the same time range. Among the 25 maggenghi present in 1958, 12 has been subdivided into 39 smaller fragments and 13 has been reduced in their size without any fragmentation. A general process of meadow patches evolution which included area and connectivity reduction and shape simplification has been noticed. This process is common to many other alpine landscapes. The study of these processes is fundamental for policies aimed to conservation of mountain meadows, as well as to identify the single patches deserving conservation for their current and historical landscape structure, as many studies report their significant effects on local floristic diversity