Paolo Cantiani

Effects of forest management on the amount of deadwood in Mediterranean oak ecosystems

ContextDeadwood is an important habitat for vertebrate and invertebrate species, a key factor in the nutrient cycle and a valuable carbon pool. Difference in the deadwood C stock depends on many variables such as forest type, microclimate and forest management.AimsWe investigated the relationship between C stock in deadwood and forest management in oak stands of southern Italy.MethodsDeadwood C stock was quantified in 74 forest stands under intensive, extensive or multifunctional management. The relationship between management and C stock in deadwood was assessed taking into account the decay class and the type of deadwood (snags, stumps and logs).ResultsIntensively managed forests are characterized by significantly lower mean levels of deadwood C than the other forms of management. Multifunctional management resulted in the highest level of C, mainly in logs and snags, while extensive management resulted in high levels of C storage concentrated in snags.ConclusionResults of the research highlight that forest management practices greatly influence the quantitative and qualitative presence of deadwood in forests.

Ecological and Environmental Role of Deadwood in Managed and Unmanaged Forests

Alessandro Paletto1, Fabrizio Ferretti2, Isabella De Meo1, Paolo Cantiani3 and Marco Focacci4 1Agricultural Research Council – Forest Monitoring and Planning Research Unit (CRA-MPF), Villazzano di Trento 2Agricultural Research Council – Apennine Forestry Research Unit (CRA-SFA), Isernia 3Agricultural Research Council – Research Centre for Forest Ecology and Silviculture (CRA-SEL), Arezzo 4Land / Forestry Resources Consultant, Sesto Fiorentino Italy

Toward sustainable forest management indicators? A data mining approach to evaluate the impact of silvicultural practices on stand structure

ABSTRACT Indicators are increasingly required to support a fine-tuning between sustainable forestry and multiple environmental targets. A data mining strategy was implemented in this study to assess the overall impact of traditional and innovative silviculture on stand structure in a sample of beech forests with varying dominant age, management history and stand structure in Italy. Harvesting intensity and stand sensitivity to treatment were investigated using a principal component analysis (PCA) run on a set of dendrometric and stand-structure variables measured before and after practice implementation at the scale of forest compartment. The PCA decomposed the overall impact of silviculture on forest structure in two manipulative effects: (i) structural changes between control and treatments, and (ii) the net manipulative effect of innovative versus traditional treatment. Our approach informs the sustainable management of forests, outlining between-site differences in stand structure and identifying a diversity gradient shaped by silvicultural practices. Multivariate analysis of forest indicators following practice’s implementation is a promising tool to design innovative silviculture coherent with conservation of forests’ structural diversity.

A spatial dataset of forest mensuration collected in black pine plantations in central Italy

Key messageThe dataset provides an exhaustive tree inventory with forest mensuration and spatial location carried out in 54 plots sampled in 45- to 55-year-old black pine plantations, located in two areas of Tuscany (central Italy). Forest mensuration includes horizontal and vertical structure measurements and a total of 4171 trees were geo-referenced. The most abundant species was the black pine,Pinus nigraspp.laricio, for which a total of 3631 trees were observed. The dataset was collected as part of the SelPiBio LIFE project (LIFE13 BIO/IT/000282).Dataset access athttp://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.438681. Associated metadata available athttps://metadata-afs.nancy.inra.fr/geonetwork/apps/georchestra/?uuid=73591027-0f1e-40a3-95d0-b614517c1290&hl=eng.ContextThe main aim of the SelPiBio LIFE project (www.selpibio.eu) is to demonstrate the effects of two thinning regimes, selective and from below, on soil biodiversity in young black pine stands. The spatial structure of forests and the relationships between trees are a good proxy of overall biodiversity level. Spatial datasets with geo referenced trees and related mensurational data represent the highest level of information for forest inventories and research activities.AimsThis dataset has been developed during the A2 Action (Assessment of structural and mensurational parameters of the forest stands and the dead wood) of the project, to record the main mensurational parameters of the studied black pine stands. A tree-level database was compiled to describe the vertical and horizontal structure of 54 monitoring plots before the application of the silvicultural treatment.MethodsIn addition to classical in-field measurements (e.g. diameters at breast height, total height of the tree, crown depth etc.), all trees were georeferenced by means of polar coordinates collected from the centre of each monitoring plot, including crown projection on the ground, described with eight points. Then, a polynomial spline function was fitted across the recorded data to obtain a convex polygon and to calculate crown area and crown perimeter of each measured tree in GIS environment.ResultsA polygonal ESRI shapefile in ETRS89/UTM32N reference system (EPSG: 25832) with 4171 records representing the crown projections on the ground of each measured tree with all the mensurational parameters included into the attribute table. The database is freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4. 182 0 License.ConclusionWith this database, a wide range of forestry-related indices could be easily calculated, including geostatistical analysis and autocorrelation functions, to compare Italian artificial black pine stands with other studied forests.

Short-term effects of thinning on soil CO2, N2O and CH4 fluxes in Mediterranean forest ecosystems

In Mediterranean ecosystems an increasing demand for in situ trace gas exchange data is emerging to enhance the adaptation and mitigation strategies under forest degradation. Field-chamber green-house gas fluxes and site characteristics were analysed in two Mediterranean peri-urban pine forests showing degradation symptoms. We examined the effect of different thinning interventions on soil CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes, addressing the relationships with the environmental variables and C and N contents along forest floor-soil layers. Soil temperature resulted as the main driving variable for CO2 efflux and CH4 uptake. Soil moisture content and organic matter availability affected CO2 emission patterns in the two sites. N2O fluxes showed a positive correlation with soil moisture under wetter climatic conditions only. GHG fluxes showed significant correlations with C and N content of both forest floor and mineral soil, especially in the deepest layers, suggesting that it should be considered, together with environmental variables when accounting GHG fluxes in degraded forests. Short-term effects of thinning on CO2 emissions were dependent on disturbance induced by logging operations and organic matter inputs. After thinning CH4 uptake increased significantly under selective treatment, independently from specific site-induced effects. N2O fluxes were characterized by low emissions in both sites and were not affected by treatments. Soil CO2 efflux was the largest component of global warming potential (GWP) from both sites (11,553 kg ha-1 y-1 on average). Although it has a large global warming potential, N2O contribution to GWP was about 131 kg CO2eq ha-1 y-1. The contribution of CH4-CO2 equivalent to total GWP showed a clear and significant CH4 sink behaviour under selective treatment (36 kg ha-1 y-1 on average). However, in the short-term both thinning approaches produced a weak effect on total GWP.