Raffaella Marzano

Developing an Adaptive Management approach to prescribed burning: a long-term heathland conservation experiment in north-west Italy

Calluna vulgaris-dominated heathlands are globally important habitats and extremely scarce outside of north- west Europe. Rotational fire, grazing and cutting by local farmers were dominant features of past heathland management throughout Europe but have been abandoned, altering the historical fire regime and habitat structure. We briefly review research on Calluna heathland conservation management and provide the background and methodology for a long-term research project that will be used to define prescribed fire regimes in combination with grazing and cutting, for management of Calluna heathlands in north-west Italy. We outline the ecological and research issues that drive the fire experiment, making explicit the experimental design and the hypotheses that will be tested. We demonstrate how Adaptive Management can be used to inform decisions about the nature of fire prescriptions where little formal knowledge exists. Experimental plots ranging from 600 to 2500 m 2 are treated according to one of eight alternative treatments (various combinations of fire, grazing and cutting), each replicated four times. To date, all treatments have been applied for 4 years, from 2005 to 2008, and a continuation is planned. Detailed measurement of fire characteristics is made to help interpret ecological responses at a microplot scale. The results of the experiment will be fed back into the experimental design and used to inform heathland management practice in north-west Italy.

Environmental drivers of deadwood dynamics in woodlands and forests

Deadwood dynamics play a key role in many forest ecosystems. Understanding the mechanisms involved in the accumulation and depletion of deadwood can enhance our understanding of fundamental processes such as carbon sequestration and disturbance regimes, allowing better predictions of future changes related to alternative management and climate scenarios. A conceptual framework for deadwood dynamics has been generally accepted but has not been broadly tested with empirical data. We used a large (n = 6191) data set containing measurements of live and standing dead trees, and downed woody material, representing numerous woodland and forest types from throughout the Interior Western USA, to assess relationships between environmental factors and basic elements of forest structure, with particular focus on the various components of deadwood (i.e., fine woody debris, litter, duff and large deadwood, both standing and downed). Environmental gradients emerged as the most influential factors determining structure a...

COMPORTAMENTO DEL FUOCO E GESTIONE DELLA BIOMASSA NEI VIALI TAGLIA FUOCO: VALUTAZIONE SPERIMENTALE DEL CARICO DI COMBUSTIBILE COMPATIBILE CON L'ATTACCO DIRETTO ( 1 )

Per mantenere nel tempo l’efficacia di un viale taglia fuoco (VTF) e necessario realizzare una periodica manutenzione attraverso il contenimento della biomassa. Il materiale di risulta della gestione del VTF, generalmente concentrato in bosco, puo essere destinato a finalita energetiche. La stima della biomassa ottenibile prevede inizialmente di definire la quantita di combustibile compatibile con le funzioni del VTF. Nel presente lavoro viene descritta una metodologia sperimentale per definire il carico di combustibile compatibile con l’attacco diretto nel VTF, attraverso la realizzazione e la descrizione quantitativa di fronti di fiamma sperimentali realizzati all’interno della Riserva Naturale Orientata della Vauda, Piemonte, in specifiche condizioni vegetazionali, orografiche e meteorologiche. Si e individuato su base bibliografica il valore limite di intensita lineare del fronte di fiamma (I) di 500 kW/m oltre il quale non e possibile operare l’attacco diretto. Attraverso la realizzazione di fronti di fiamma sperimentali su superfici variabili (625 - 4000 m 2 ) e stato studiato un modello che mostra come la velocita di avanzamento del fuoco (ROS) aumenti in modo esponenziale al crescere del carico di combustibile fine. Sono stati individuati valori limite di ROS e carico di combustibile, con umidita percentuale compresa fra 30% e 40%, rispettivamente pari a 0,08 m/s (5 m/min) e 4 t/ha, oltre ai quali non e possibile intervenire con l’attacco diretto. Dalla differenza fra la biomassa presente su un VTF in fase di realizzazione o manutenzione ed il carico di combustibile massimo compatibile con le attivita antincendio (4 t/ha con 30%

Monitoring post-fire forest recovery using multi-temporal Digital Surface Models generated from different platforms

Wildfires can greatly affect forest dynamics. Given the alteration of fire regimes foreseen globally due to climate and land use changes, greater attention should be devoted to prevention and restoration activities. Concerning in particular post-fire restoration actions, it is fundamental, together with a better understanding of ecological processes resulting from the disturbance, to define techniques and protocols for long-term monitoring of burned areas. This paper presents the results of a study conducted within an area affected by a stand-replacing crown fire (Verrayes, Aosta (AO), Italy) in 2005, which is part of a long-term monitoring research on post-fire restoration dynamics. We performed a change detection analysis through a time sequence (2008-2015) of DSMs (Digital Surface Models) obtained from LiDAR (ALS - Airborne Laser Scanner) and digital images (UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle flight) to test the ability of the systems (platform + sensor) to identify the ongoing processes. New technologies providing high-resolution information and new devices (i.e. UAV) able to acquire geographic data “on demand” demonstrated great potential for monitoring post disturbance recovery dynamics of vegetation