Ungulate damage and silviculture in the Cansiglio Forest (Veneto Prealps, NE Italy)

Caudullo, Giovanni; Battisti, Renzo De; Colpi, Cristiana; Vazzola, Claudio; Ronch, F. da

doi:10.1078/1617-1381-00023

Cited by 17 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…It is well known that young firs are subjected to heavy browsing by wild ungulates (Ammer 1996, Eiberle & Zehnder 1985, Gill 1992a, 1992b, Motta 1996, Senn & Suter 2003. Increasing evidence of such impact is being reported in the Alpine region (Motta 1996, Caudullo et al 2003, Carmignola 2009) but few studies have been carried out in the Apennines. However, despite the outstanding density of wild ungulates in the Vallombrosa Forest, we observed a diffused understory of seedlings and saplings of various species wherever the density of the dominant fir layer was reduced or gaps had opened up.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stand dynamics and natural regeneration in silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) plantations after traditional rotation age

Bottalico¹,

Travaglini²,

Fiorentini³

et al. 2014

iForest

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

© iForest -Biogeosciences and Forestry IntroductionIn the last decades forest management has shifted the focus from wood production to the provision of multiple environmental services and biodiversity conservation. Following this trend the conversion of forest plantations into naturally regenerating and more diverse and complex systems has become one of the aims of the sustainable forest management, often trying to revert a process which had instead transformed vast areas of natural forests into plantations across Europe since the XIX century (Johann 2006, Bolte et al. 2007.Silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) has frequently received attention from foresters and researchers, partly because there has been a long tradition of forest management in central and southeast Europe in areas where the natural share of fir is significant (e.g., Kramer 1992, Brändli 1996, but mainly because of fir's economic, environmental and social significance. Signs of decline in fir presence have also been investigated (e.g., Elling et al. 2009, Ficko et al. 2011). Recently, Volarik & Hedl (2013 suggested that periods of both decline and expansion have underpinned silver fir dynamics. While natural mixed beech-fir forests were largely converted to spruce plantations in central European mountains and in many Alpine areas (Johann 2007, Volarik & Hedl 2013, in the Apennine Mountains (Italy) fir -naturally present in beech dominated mixed hardwood forests -was generally disfavoured by forest exploitation and has become relatively rare (Nocentini 2009). Today silver fir is an important species of five Natura 2000 habitats in the Apennines, three being priority habitats (*): 9130: Asperulo-Fagetum beech forests; 9210*: Apennine beech forests with Taxus and Ilex; 9220*: Apennine beech forests with Abies alba and beech forests with Abies nebrodensis; 9410: Acidophilous Picea forests of the montane to alpine levels (Vaccinio-Piceetea); 9510*: Southern Apennine Abies alba.Fir had often been preserved in small areas around monasteries, such as Vallombrosa and Camaldoli (Tuscan Apennines) where fir cultivation has been documented at least from the XVI century (Senni 1955, Gabbrielli 2003. Since late XVIII century fir planting started in various forests in the Tuscan Apennines, and this trend continued until the middle of the XX century. Most fir plantations are on State property and until the 1970s they were managed following the traditional model based on area regulation methods with clear cutting and 100 year rotation age (Vazzano et al. 2011.In the 1970s and 1980s pure fir stands in the Apennines started showing symptoms which recalled fir decline and dieback observed in central Europe (Larsen 1986, Kandler & Innes 1995, raising some concern about the future of this species. Together with these symptoms, Heterobasidion annosum (later identified as H. abietinum -Niemela & Korhonen 1998) also caused some damage, consisting mainly in the death of individual or small groups of trees (Farina et al. 1990, Barzanti & Capretti 1996, Capretti 1998.At the end ...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stand dynamics and natural regeneration in silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) plantations after traditional rotation age

Bottalico¹,

Travaglini²,

Fiorentini³

et al. 2014

iForest

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this area red deer has increased greatly in the last decade, causing significant damages to forest (Caudullo et al, 2003). Recently, an impact on grasslands has also been suggested (Mearns et al, 2007), but a comprehensive assessment is lacking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Wild red deer[Cervus elaphusL.) grazing may seriously reduce forage production in mountain meadows

Marchiori

Sturaro

Ramanzin

2012

Italian Journal of Animal Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study aimed at estimating the impact of red deer grazing on the productivity of meadows located in Pian Cansiglio, north-eastern Italian Pre-Alps. These meadows (185 ha; average elevation 1000 m asl are managed for hay/silage production (1-2 cuts per season) and are included in a protected area that hosts a high density of deer (around 30 heads/100 ha). In 2008 and 2010, dry matter (DM) production and loss due to deer grazing were estimated with exclusion cages (1 m 2 ; 48 exclusion cages in 2008 and 52 in 2010). Night counts with spotlights were conducted to index deer use of meadows plots. DM production inside the cages was fairly good for the area (first-second cut: 4963-2297 kg DM/ha in 2008, and 4145-2475 kg DM/ha in 2010). DM production outside the cages was significantly lower (first-second cut in 2008: 4199-1378 kg DM/ha, and in 2010: 3376-2052 Kg DM/ha). Therefore, the magnitude of losses was of 15-20% at the first and 25-40% at the second cut. DM losses in the different meadow plots were positively correlated with index of deer use, which in some plots was as high as 7-8 heads/ha. Deer grazing reduced also crude protein (CP) content of forage (15.6±4.4% DM inside exclusion cages and 13.8±3.5% DM outside), with losses being greater where CP content was higher. This study demonstrates that high densities of grazing deer may seriously impact on forage production and quality.

show abstract

“…Several factors are involved; among others, the number of ungulates has increased strongly and is likely to continue to do so in the future (e.g., Breitenmoser 1998;Caudullo et al 2003;Rooney and Waller 2003), in particular, in the absence of predators (cf. Breitenmoser 1998;Coté et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Ungulate browsing in winter reduces the growth of Fraxinus and Acer saplings in subsequent unbrowsed years

Kupferschmid¹,

Bugmann²

2007

Plant Ecol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Browsing by ungulates has become a hotly debated issue in many European mountain forests in the past century. Acer pseudoplatanus L. and Fraxinus excelsior L. are broadleaved tree species that are preferentially browsed by roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in central Europe. We analyzed growth data from shaded saplings of both tree species to quantify the extent to which height growth after game browsing is reduced in subsequent, unbrowsed years in forest stands.Sixty saplings of F. excelsior and A. pseudoplatanus from forest stands at Albisriederberg (Switzerland) were available to us that had been dissected into pieces that then were split in the middle for counting tree rings and assessing ungulate damage. We fitted the von Bertalanffy growth equation to these height growth data and included a reduction factor for winter browsing.Both tree species showed significantly reduced height growth in unbrowsed years after one to several browsing events in winter, and this effect increased with the number of browsing events. Saplings with a high growth rate showed a higher growth reduction. After winter browsing, height growth of A. pseudoplatanus saplings was less affected in unbrowsed years than that of F. excelsior saplings.We conclude that browsed saplings of these species in forest stands are not able to compensate browsing-induced height loss, but that height differences between browsed and unbrowsed saplings probably increase over time. A comparison between our analysis and the parameters estimated using equations published by Eiberle for predicting age at 130 cm height suggests that our parameter values are rather conservative estimates of the growth reduction effect after winter browsing. Neither F. excelsior nor A. pseudoplatanus show a distinct pattern in browsing-induced growth reduction with respect to soil moisture, nutrient level, and altitude. We thus conclude that our results are likely to be valid for a wide range of forested sites.

show abstract

Ungulate damage and silviculture in the Cansiglio Forest (Veneto Prealps, NE Italy)

Cited by 17 publications

References 9 publications

Stand dynamics and natural regeneration in silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) plantations after traditional rotation age

Stand dynamics and natural regeneration in silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) plantations after traditional rotation age

Wild red deer[Cervus elaphusL.) grazing may seriously reduce forage production in mountain meadows

Ungulate browsing in winter reduces the growth of Fraxinus and Acer saplings in subsequent unbrowsed years

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About