Changes in vascular plant species composition, top-soil and seed-bank along coppice rotation in an <i>Ostrya carpinifolia</i> forest

Mei, Giacomo; Pesaresi, Simone; Corti, Giacomo; Cocco, Stefania; Colpi, Cristiana; Taffetani, F.

doi:10.1080/11263504.2019.1609618

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The present study aims to increase multidisciplinary knowledge in the forestry field to objectively evaluate the best choices in terms of management of both Italian and broader geographic forest heritage. Specifically, for the Hophornbeam, scientific evidence [47] demonstrates that coppice management favors a greater level of biodiversity right after cutting. This appears to contrast the requests of the ecological movements that support the need to stop all felling activities in the woods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

European Hophornbeam Biomass for Energy Application: Influence of Different Production Processes and Heating Devices on Environmental Sustainability

Ilari¹,

Fabrizi²,

Pedretti³

2022

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Environmental sustainability has recently shifted towards biodiversity protection via governmental and intergovernmental initiatives (e.g., the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, MA). The life cycle assessment, the widespread method for assessing environmental sustainability, was not created to evaluate impacts on biodiversity. However, several authors recognize its ability to estimate biodiversity loss drivers (impact indices on land use change and ecosystem). The study aims to apply LCA to the forest sector, precisely to the wood–energy chain of Hophornbeam, to cover suggestions of the MA for the biodiversity impact assessment. Six different scenarios for stove (3) and fireplace (3) wood production were analyzed, evaluating two baselines and four alternative scenarios, including sensitivity analyses related to transport distances for the raw materials. The functional unit is 1 MJ of energy. The fireplace combustion scenarios are relatively more sustainable than the stove ones are (2.95–3.21% less). The global warming potential (around 3 g CO2 eq/MJ) is consistent with current European directives on the sustainability of biofuels and scientific literature. The scenarios showed similarities regarding the impact of the categories related to MA drivers. Although biodiversity is protected by limiting forest management, some authors argue that for some species (e.g., Hophornbeam), a rational tree felling could produce biofuels, increasing biodiversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

European Hophornbeam Biomass for Energy Application: Influence of Different Production Processes and Heating Devices on Environmental Sustainability

Ilari¹,

Fabrizi²,

Pedretti³

2022

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“…These formations are now used again mainly the production of firewood and poles, while the inland populations are rediscovering and adapting uses (craftsmanship, family-scale woodworking industries) that were thought to be forgotten forever. There is a biodiversity linked to the coppice forest [133,134], just as there is that linked to the mowing of secondary prairies, often subject to protection at community level. As with the latter, the coppice forest has also characterized the traditional landscape [135,136] and is at the basis of ecological, landscape aspects, traditions, uses and customs and like these it should therefore be safeguarded [133,137,138].…”

Section: Coppice Forest Wood Arboriculture Urban Parksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil-Conscious Forestry and the Forbidden Apple

Zanella,

Bernier,

Zampedri

et al. 2023

Preprint

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We propose a silviculture with a purely biological logic that takes soil into account. The article is divided into three parts: 1) presentation of the issue in the context of biodiversity and forest pro-tection; 2) impact of the soil functioning on forestry; 3) possible implementation of soil functioning in forestry practice, to support and protect a non-or minimally anthropized evolution of the forest. The first chapter illustrates the importance of the forest for the future of the planet and our human species, referring to recently published works on the topic of climate warming and biodiversity. The second illustrates the aspects that link soil dynamics to the silvogenetic cycle, focusing on the humipedon (organic and organo-mineral surface horizons, approximately the first 30 cm of forest soil), and more significant carbon storage in old forests since up to 2/3 is found in the soil. In the third chapter we consider the possibility of lengthening the forestry cycle, to allow the return of nutrients to the soil. Theoretical graphs and distribution models of the number of trees as a func-tion of diameter and age are reported, with examples of logging in uneven Alpine forests, with reference to Swiss fir-beech forests published on the Pro-Silva website.

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“…Changes in the structural, chorological, and ecological features of the plant community were evaluated using life-forms [62][63][64], chorotypes [62][63][64]66], and Ellenberg Indicator Values (EIVs [72]), respectively. EIVs are considered as an appropriate useful tool to relate observed variation in plant communities to variations in environmental factors after a disturbance or over the time [73][74][75][76].…”

Section: Vegetation Sampling and Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Multi-Level Biodiversity and Soil Features in a Burned Beech Forest in the Southern Italian Coastal Mountain

Stinca

Ravo²,

Marzaioli

et al. 2020

Forests

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In the context of global warming and increasing wildfire occurrence, this study aims to examine, for the first time, the changes in multi-level biodiversity and key soil features related to soil functioning in a burned Mediterranean beech forest. Two years after the 2017 wildfire, changes between burned and unburned plots of beech forest were analyzed for plant communities (vascular plant and cover, bryophytes diversity, structural, chorological, and ecological variables) and soil features (main chemical properties, microbial biomass and activity, bacterial community composition, and diversity), through a synchronic study. Fire-induced changes in the micro-environmental conditions triggered a secondary succession process with colonization by many native pioneer plant species. Indeed, higher frequency (e.g., Scrophularia vernalis L., Rubus hirtus Waldst. and Kit. group, and Funaria hygrometrica Hedw.) or coverage (e.g., Verbascum thapsus L. subsp. thapsus and Digitalis micrantha Roth ex Schweigg.) of the species was observed in the burned plots, whereas the typical forest species showed a reduction in frequency, but not in cover, except for Fagus sylvatica subsp. sylvatica. Overall, an increase in plant species and family richness was found in the burned plots, mainly in the herbaceous and bryophyte layers, compared to the unburned plots. Burned plots showed an increase in therophytes, chamaephytes, cosmopolites, steno-Mediterranean and Atlantic species, and a decrease in geophytes and Eurasiatic plants. Significant differences were found in burned vs. control soils for 10 phyla, 40 classes, 79 orders, 145 families, 342 genera, and 499 species of bacteria, with about 50% of each taxon over-represented and 50% under-represented in burned than in control. Changes in bacterial richness within several families (reduction in Acidobacteriaceae, Solibacteraceae, Rhodospirillaceae, and Sinobacteraceae; increase in Micrococcaceae, Comamonadaceae, Oxalobacteraceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Hymenobacteraceae, Sphingomonadaceae, Cytophagaceae, Nocardioidaceae, Opitutaceae, Solirubrobacteraceae, and Bacillaceae) in burned soil were related to fire-induced chemical changes of soil (pH, electrical conductivity, and cation exchange capacity). No evident effect of the wildfire was found on organic C content, microbial biomass (total microbial carbon and fungal mycelium) and activity, and microbial indexes (fungal percentage of microbial C, metabolic quotient, and quotient of mineralization), suggesting that soil functions remained unchanged in the burned area. Therefore, we hypothesize that, without an additional disturbance event, a re-establishment of beech forest can be expected but with an unpredictable time of post-fire succession.

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Changes in vascular plant species composition, top-soil and seed-bank along coppice rotation in an Ostrya carpinifolia forest

Cited by 7 publications

References 41 publications

European Hophornbeam Biomass for Energy Application: Influence of Different Production Processes and Heating Devices on Environmental Sustainability

European Hophornbeam Biomass for Energy Application: Influence of Different Production Processes and Heating Devices on Environmental Sustainability

Soil-Conscious Forestry and the Forbidden Apple

Changes in Multi-Level Biodiversity and Soil Features in a Burned Beech Forest in the Southern Italian Coastal Mountain

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