Fabio Attorre

Landscape changes of Rome through tree-lined roads

Rome has greatly expanded in the course of the last century, after it became the capital of the Italian state in 1870. In this period, many areas were built according to different urbanistic criteria. The city may now be divided into urban units (Wards, Districts, Suburbs and Zones), which have an almost concentric disposition. The changes of the whole urban landscape and of the single urban units (UUs) have been analysed by studying the different tree-species planted along the roads. A database has been created using the four censuses of the tree-lined roads made by the city administration in 1898, 1955, 1971 and 1998. This analysis has shown a strong link between the specific cultural and political period and the tree-species used. Moreover, for each year, the UUs have been classified according to the percentage composition of the species. The results have been mapped using the Arcview 3.1 GIS program in order to integrate them with a more general project on GIS-based cartography of the natural and anthropic vegetation of Rome.

VegItaly: The Italian collaborative project for a national vegetation database

Abstract Two years after its official start, the national vegetation database VegItaly, a collaborative project supported by the Italian scientific community and developed by a large group of scientists, is presented. This article offers a concise overview of the content of the database, currently consisting of 31,100 vegetation plot, including published and unpublished data. Some basic statistics are analysed; for example, data distribution in space and time, represented vegetation types expressed as physiognomic categories. Although rather young and still in progress, VegItaly already contains data from all the Italian regions and stands as an optimal candidate for the development of an Italian national vegetation database. Its main goals,theoretical basis, technical features, functionalities and recent progresses are outlined, showing glimpses of future prospects.

Plant sciences and the Italian National Biodiversity Network

Abstract Several national and global initiatives aim to increase access to biodiversity information worldwide. The Italian National Biodiversity Network, started in the framework of the project “Sistema Ambiente 2010”, will organise and manage biodiversity data hosted by museums, universities and research centres in Italy, in order to make them widely available on the Web.

Changes in composition, ecology and structure of high-mountain vegetation: a re-visitation study over 42 years

Mediterranean high-mountain ecosystems are increasingly threatened by climate change, causing biodiversity loss, habitat degradation and landscape modifications. In this work, we used phytosociological relevés to conduct a re-visitation study in order to analyze changes in floristic composition over the last 42 years in the central Apennines (Majella National Park). We observed changes in floristic composition, along with a significant increase in thermophilic and nutrient-demanding species. Such changes are likely attributable to the combined effect of higher temperatures and the increase in soil nutrients triggered by global change.

Developing conservation strategies for endemic tree species when faced with time and data constraints: Boswellia spp. on Socotra (Yemen)

Many endemic tree species have important scientific, ecological and economic value but the scarcity of information about their biological and ecological features makes it difficult to develop conservation strategies for them. A four-step approach is presented to address this problem, based on the analysis of data collected in a limited-duration field study: (1) Data collected are used to analyse the ecological niche, population structure and regeneration status of the species in question. (2) Several IUCN Red List (RL) parameters, useful for assessing the species’ risk of extinction, are measured, including population counts, number of locations, extent and area of occurrence. (3) The IUCN RL parameters are used together with the other information gathered to set preliminary conservation priorities. (4) The analysis of utilization pattern is used to develop conservation actions specific to the environmental and socio-economic context. To test the applicability of this approach Boswellia spp. of Socotra island were analysed. Ground-rooted species (B. ameero, B. elongata and B. socotrana) were the most abundant and widespread and, according to the spatial analysis, were characterised by a geo-altitudinal zonation. However, the Weibull functions fitted on their stem diameters, and the absence or presence of only a small number of saplings highlighted a poor regeneration status. In the absence of conservation actions, these species will probably be subject to a progressive decline because of uncontrolled grazing. Of the four cliff-rooted species, which grow in sites that are less accessible to livestock, two (B. popoviana and B. dioscorides) were of lower conservation priority and may become the most numerically abundant. Conversely, the other two (B. nana and B. bullata), which may be threatened by stochastic events because of their reduced populations and small number of locations, were considered of very high priority. Different conservation actions were then identified for each species. In particular, for Boswellia species producing gum, the conservation-through-use action was discussed as a potential option.

New trends in biodiversity informatics

Abstract Plant Biosystems dedicated a special issue to present and discuss new trends in biodiversity and informatics. The definition and theoretical framework of this challenging and stimulating research field are delineated together with several examples that illustrate data collection, organisation, dissemination, analysis and application.

A multiple approach for the evaluation of the spatial distribution and dynamics of a forest habitat: the case of Apennine beech forests with Taxus baccata and Ilex aquifolium

An approach integrating phytosociological and stand structure surveys with the predictive modelling of species distribution was applied to analyse the spatial distribution and dynamics of the Apennine beech forests with Taxus and Ilex, a high conservation priority forest habitat in Europe. The homogeneity of the habitat was tested trough a Mann–Whitney test between beech woods with Taxus and those with Ilex with respect to climatic, topographic, structural and environmental parameters: the former have proven to be more microthermic, mesophilous and characterised by a closer canopy. Five statistical models were compared to analyse the relationship between bioclimatic parameters and Taxus and Ilex spatial distribution: Regression Tree Analysis, the most efficient model, has shown that the distribution of Taxus is influenced by precipitation variables, while Ilex is mainly influenced by temperature variables. This model highlighted that Ilex has a potential area that surrounds, at lower altitudes, that of Taxus. A stepwise multiple regression analysis has been applied to identify the factors influencing the regeneration of the two species: beside climatic parameters, Taxus regeneration is negatively influenced by soil nitrate concentration (an indicator of livestock disturbance) while Ilex is negatively influenced by beech forest cover. Traditional management practices seem to have an effect on the regeneration of the two species: frequent cuts favour the regeneration of Ilex, reducing the forest cover and allowing more light penetration, while Taxus, less resistant to grazing livestock, is confined to more inaccessible places. The multiple approach has proven to be useful for the elaboration of two differentiated conservation strategies for the two beech forest types.

Systemic Spatial Decision Support Systems: An integrated, computer‐aided tool for biodiversity conservation

Abstract In the last decades, biodiversity is facing many threats related to the expansion and development of human populations. With the aim of mainstreaming conservation together with sustainable development, several conflicting necessities related to the economic, social, environmental and institutional objectives of the society have to be balanced within complex decision-making contexts. Conventional approaches hardly cope with these demands, and therefore conceptual models are required for understanding ecosystems form and functions and how human activities impact on them. International organisations committed to conservation and development initiatives have recognised the importance and effectiveness of an integrated, participative and adaptive approach to ecosystem management. In this perspective, computerised tools to facilitate an overall view and support informed and aware decisions are required. The Systemic Spatial Decision Support System, here presented, is a comprehensive tool for a holistic, multi-scale, spatially explicit and tailor-made approach to such complex decisional environments. The core methodology builds upon several years of experience in international conservation and development projects supported by the Italian Development Cooperation, and is complemented by an ad hoc, easily customisable software shell. Its characteristics provide an ideal framework for an effective administration of biodiversity conservation initiatives, as well as for training and consolidating expert knowledge.

Implementing REDD+ in Papua New Guinea: Can biodiversity indicators be effectively integrated in PNG's National Forest Inventory?

UNFCCCs “Cancun safeguards” (COP 16, 2010) provide a strong call for comprehensive steps to prevent harm to biodiversity from Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) activities and to support its conservation. However, as non-binding “principles” and due to their general wording, they are not operational in the present form. Additionally, the scientific literature on biodiversity monitoring for REDD+ is still very limited, particularly when it comes to REDD+ in tropical forests and at the national scale. Whereas some authors suggest that biodiversity integration can be achieved by means of standardised protocols and techniques, others consider that an effective monitoring of biodiversity in tropical forests at the national scale may be an impossible task to achieve in a cost-effective way. However, recent research offers some functional approaches to tackle the many challenges involved. This paper explores the perspectives and limits of developing and effectively incorporating appropriate biodiversity objectives and indicators in Papua New Guineas multipurpose National Forest Inventory (PNGs NFI). The PNGs NFI is currently being designed under the UN-REDD programme as a key component of the National Forest Monitoring System that PNG is required to establish in order to participate in a future REDD+ mechanism. We conclude that the challenge cannot be effectively tackled only at the design stage of the NFI, as it needs to address a number of issues related to different stages of the REDD+ preparedness process: If biodiversity integration is carried out directly at the NFI stage, it will need to rely on proxies derived from indicators designed to monitor carbon stock change; At the planning stage, a carbon–biodiversity overlay map analysis would allow for a preliminary selection of areas of high biodiversity that could be threatened by REDD+ activities either directly or indirectly through “leakage”; During the implementation stage, the selection could be refined by identifying a sub-sample of sites where forests are undergoing the greatest changes; A comprehensive biodiversity monitoring programme involving field measurements of key species could only be designed once the priority areas have been clearly defined and limited in both number and size.

Classifying and Mapping Potential Distribution of Forest Types Using a Finite Mixture Model

The present paper presents the application of a finite mixture model (FMM) to analyze spatially explicit data on forest composition and environmental variables to produce a high-resolution map of their current potential distribution. FMM provides a convenient yet formal setting for model-based clustering. Within this framework, forest data are assumed to come from an underlying FMM, where each mixture component corresponds to a cluster and each cluster is characterized by a different composition of tree species. An important extension of this model is based on including a set of covariates to predict class membership. These covariates can be climatic and topographical parameters as well as geographical coordinates and the class membership of neighbouring plots. FMM was applied to a national forest inventory of Italy consisting of 6,714 plots with a measure of abundance for 27 tree species. In this way, a map of potential forest types was produced. The limitations and usefulness of the proposed modelling approach were analyzed and discussed, comparing the results with an independently derived expert map.