Improving resilience of an old-growth urban forest in Southern Italy: Lesson(s) from a stand-replacing windstorm

Teobaldelli, Maurizio; Cona, Francesco; Stinca, Adriano; Saulino, Luigi; Anzano, Enrico; Giordano, Daniele; Migliozzi, Antonello; Bonanomi, Giuliano; D’Urso, Guido; Mazzoleni, Stefano; Saracino, Antonio

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2019.126521

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The site is an old-growth evergreen Quercus ilex forest established on the lava field approximately 300 years ago. The overstory tree layer is dominated by Q. ilex with an average stand height of 16 m, while the understory is mainly composed of shade-tolerant deciduous Fraxinus ornus and evergreen Laurus nobilis species [ 47 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shifts of Leaf Litter-Induced Plant-Soil Feedback from Negative to Positive Driven by Ectomycorrhizal Symbiosis between Quercus ilex and Pisolithus arrhizus

et al. 2023

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Ectomycorrhizas (ECM) are a common symbiotic association between fungi and various plant species in forest ecosystems, affecting community assemblages at the landscape level. ECMs benefit host plants by increasing the surface area for nutrient uptake, defending against pathogens, and decomposing organic matter in the soil. ECM-symbiotic seedlings are also known to perform better in conspecific soils than other species unable to carry the symbiosis, in a process referred to as plant-soil feedback (PSF). In this study, we tested the effects of different leaf litter amendments on ECM and non-ECM seedlings of Quercus ilex inoculated with Pisolithus arrhizus and how they altered the litter-induced PSF. Our experiment showed that the ECM symbiont induced a shift from negative PSF to positive PSF in Q. ilex seedlings by analysing plant and root growth parameters. However, non-ECM seedlings performed better than ECM seedlings in a no-litter condition, indicating an autotoxic effect when litter is present without ECM symbionts. Conversely, ECM seedlings with litter performed better at different decomposition stages, suggesting a possible role of the symbiosis of P. arrhizus and Q. ilex in recycling autotoxic compounds released from conspecific litter, transforming them into nutrients that are transferred to the plant host.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shifts of Leaf Litter-Induced Plant-Soil Feedback from Negative to Positive Driven by Ectomycorrhizal Symbiosis between Quercus ilex and Pisolithus arrhizus

et al. 2023

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“…The relevés describe the holm-oak forests that occur in the volcanic area of the Somma-Vesuvio complex. Like most other natural habitats which are located in the area around the Bay of Naples, todate this forest habitat is mainly threatened by the effects of various human activities, such as wildfires (Stinca et al 2020) and invasions of alien species (Stinca et al 2015), but also by extreme natural events linked to climate change (Teobaldelli et al 2020).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

New national and regional Annex I Habitat records: from #37 to #44

Tavilla¹,

Angiolini²,

Bagella³

et al. 2022

Plant Sociology

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“…The establishment of the Parco Gussone started in 1738 when Q. ilex seedlings from Sicily were used for the afforestation of the area. The forest of Parco Gussone extends over 16.4 ha and represents a real pool of floristic biodiversity in the metropolitan area of Naples [52], where forest dynamics and functional processes, such as natural regeneration and nutrient cycling, resemble those of a natural forest ecosystem [53].…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The site is an evergreen Q. ilex woodland with the scattered occurrence of other deciduous species such as Fraxinus ornus L., Quercus pubescens Willd., Ulmus campestris L., Celtis australis L., and Mediterranean conifers [54]. The undergrowth is rich in shrub and climbing species [52]. Some of the older Q. ilex trees show phytosanitary problems due to inoculation with fungi with occurrence of fruiting bodies and hyphae of basidiomycetes fungi [52].…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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Xylem and Phloem Formation Dynamics in Quercus ilex L. at a Dry Site in Southern Italy

Balzano

Čufar

Micco

2021

Forests

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Quercus ilex L. dieback has been recently reported at numerous Mediterranean sites. Wood and phloem formation dynamics and tree-ring series of anatomical traits can be used to evaluate growth conditions of trees. We monitored cambial activity in Q. ilex trees growing at a site in southern Italy in order to assess how xylem and phloem production are affected by harsh seasonal climatic variation during a dry year. We followed xylogenesis by counting the number of cambial cells and detecting the occurrence of post-cambial cells throughout the year. As phloem did not show clear growth rings and boundaries between them, we followed the development of phloem fibres—their morphological traits during development and the distance from the cambium served as a reference point to evaluate the phloem production during the year. We detected a multimodal pattern in cambial activity, with wood production in three periods of the year and consequent formation of intra-annual density fluctuations (IADFs). The lowest production of xylem cells was observed in the dry late spring and summer period (likely due to the low water availability), while the highest occurred in autumn (the wettest period). Although we could not differentiate between early and late phloem, the analysis of phloem traits was useful to follow the dynamics of phloem production, which is generally difficult in Mediterranean tree species. We found cambial production of phloem throughout the year, even in the periods without xylem production. The results showed that if tree growth was constrained by environmental limitations, the ratio between xylem to phloem cells decreased and, in the most severely affected trees, more cells were formed preferentially in the phloem compared to xylem. We also briefly report the way in which to solve technical problems with tissue preparation due to extreme hardness and to the peculiar structure of Q. ilex wood and outer bark.

show abstract

Improving resilience of an old-growth urban forest in Southern Italy: Lesson(s) from a stand-replacing windstorm

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

Shifts of Leaf Litter-Induced Plant-Soil Feedback from Negative to Positive Driven by Ectomycorrhizal Symbiosis between Quercus ilex and Pisolithus arrhizus

Shifts of Leaf Litter-Induced Plant-Soil Feedback from Negative to Positive Driven by Ectomycorrhizal Symbiosis between Quercus ilex and Pisolithus arrhizus

New national and regional Annex I Habitat records: from #37 to #44

Xylem and Phloem Formation Dynamics in Quercus ilex L. at a Dry Site in Southern Italy

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