Mediterranean forests under focus

Palahí, Marc; Mavsar, Robert; Gracia, Carlos; Birot, Yves

doi:10.1505/ifor.10.4.676

Cited by 66 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…These ecosystems represent a major hot-spots of diversity and endemism at the global scale and provide multiple goods and services that are crucial for the socio-economic development of rural areas and for the welfare of the urban populations (Scarascia et al, 2000;Quézel and Médail, 2003). However, several threats exist that make these forests vulnerable especially in the face of climate and land-use changes (Palahi et al, 2008). An emblematic example of declining ecosystem are the woodlands dominated by the cork oak (Quercus suber), one of the most characteristic components of the ancient Mediterranean landscape as a result of either the longevity and size of the species or its usefulness to humans .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of pine invasion on the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of a relict Mediterranean forest ecosystem

Selvi

Carrari

Coppi

2016

Forest Ecology and Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tInvasion by non-native tree species is a major driver of reduction and fragmentation of forest ecosystems, also altering biodiversity components. However, the effects of this process on the phylogenetic structure and diversity of Mediterranean woodlands are still unknown. Accordingly, we used cork oak (Quercus suber) stands invaded by self-sowing populations of maritime pine locally introduced ca. 70 years ago as a model system to assess the impact on the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of the native seed plant community. We performed vegetation sampling of the two forest types in sites of central Italy with similar conditions. Taxonomic diversity was negatively affected by the pine at three levels (gamma, alpha, beta). Indicator species were significantly less numerous than in cork oak stands, and did not include two growth-forms such as herbs and vines. Phylogenetic diversity metrics were inferred from an evolutionary tree of seed plants based on a ITS-5.8S nuclear DNA dataset including original sequences from local plant material. Phylogenetic diversity (PD) was positively related to species and genus richness, showing a marked decrease in the pine stands. Seven major clades (orders) of angiosperm dicots were only represented in the cork oak community. Both the NRI and NTI indices showed a significant reduction of phylogenetic evenness in the pine forest. Here, the proportional increase of related taxa with acid-tolerance specialization suggests that soil acidification is a major driver for a ''habitat filtering" effect causing the exclusion of several understorey species and genera of cork oak forests. Progressive thinning of the pine stands is advocated to avoid further acidification and promote the re-conversion to oak woodlands by natural regeneration. This will ultimately favor the recovery of the associated plant diversity and the restoration of a vanishing forest ecosystem of the ancient Mediterranean landscape.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of pine invasion on the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of a relict Mediterranean forest ecosystem

Selvi

Carrari

Coppi

2016

Forest Ecology and Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This diversity, compared to Nordic forests, reveals a relatively high genetic variability due to the survival of many conifers and broadleaf species [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of Fire Risk in a Sustainable Forest Management Model

Freitas

Xavier

Fragoso

2017

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In Mediterranean areas, forest fires are a considerable risk most years. The seasonality of the climate with a dry summer, high temperatures and low rainfall (which implies increased flammability of materials) is one of the main factors in the ignition and progression of fires. This factor conjugated with more favourable biophysical conditions (e.g., high slopes, aspect) leads to easy propagation and the increasingly destructive power of such phenomena. To prevent and reduce the consequences of forest fires, it is necessary to simulate and forecast the territory use and management, not only focused on forest areas, but also on all land uses and agricultural activities that may coexist there, considering the probability of fire occurrence. The objective of this paper is to present a methodological approach to address the integration of fire risk in integrated Mediterranean forest management models. The methodological approach considers simultaneously the climatic conditions through different times of the year (more or less favourable to forest fire damage) and structural conditions addressed to land uses, aspect, slope, roads and demographic density. The methodological approach was implemented in a management area located in the Algarve, in southern Portugal. The results for the Algarve region showed that the proposed approach is very useful for managers, since it allowed the calculation of fire susceptibility, vulnerability and fire damage, according to several climatic scenarios. It also allowed the incorporation of different paths regarding different fire risk conditions and the minimization of risk due to fire damage through different management responses.

show abstract

“…Today, wildfires are one of the main problems for the conservation of the Mediterranean forests and to prevent the desertification in this region [1], [2]. Forest destruction produces a detrimental impact on the environment, for instance, in recent years forest areas have lost large amounts of hectares (Spain wildfires in 2005: 25.492 fires and 188.697 acres burned)…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If we analyze burned forests areas in Spain, we can obtain an overview of the wildfire problem [3], which leads to the destruction of forests and their biodiversity [4], the loss of soil conservation [1], [2] and even worse the loss of life. This situation leads to the transformation of a forest area into a bush area due to a process of soil loss and desertification.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The preservation of forested areas is very important in the Mediterranean, as they are an important source of biodiversity and soil conservation for the proper functioning of our life cycle that directly affects the world economy [1]. Natural fires caused by factors such as thunderstorms and dry seasons do not affect the planet's ecological balance as they are part of the life cycle of a forest and cause partial or total regeneration of species [1], [5].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Integration of Environmental Models in Spatial Data Infrastructures: A Use Case in Wildfire Risk Prediction

Trilles

Paz

Díaz

et al. 2013

IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Observations Remote Sensing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Achieving sustainable growth in our society implies monitoring our environment in order to measure human impact and detect relevant changes and detrimental driving factors such as wildfires and desertification. In order for experts to perform environmental modelling they need to be able to access data and models in an efficient and interoperable manner as well as share their findings to assist other professionals in decision making. In the current information society, distributed information systems are essential for sharing digital resources such as data and tools. Advances in Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) allow for the distribution and accessibility of on-line resources such as data and tools, which served through standards-based services improve the sharing of data, models and models results.This research presents a service-oriented application that addresses the issues of interoperable access to environmental modelling capabilities as well as the mechanisms to share their results an efficiently throughout interoperable components. The aim is twofold, first we present different models for multi-scale forest fire risk prediction based on spatial point processes, and second we provide this functionality as a distributed application, that, based on international standards, such as those offered by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), improves interoperable access to these models as well as the publication of the results to be shared with other interested stakeholders.

show abstract

Mediterranean forests under focus

Cited by 66 publications

References 25 publications

Impact of pine invasion on the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of a relict Mediterranean forest ecosystem

Impact of pine invasion on the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of a relict Mediterranean forest ecosystem

Integration of Fire Risk in a Sustainable Forest Management Model

Integration of Environmental Models in Spatial Data Infrastructures: A Use Case in Wildfire Risk Prediction

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About