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Evidences of drought stress as a predisposing factor to Scots pine decline in Valle d’Aosta (Italy)

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Abstract

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests of many inner Alpine valleys have recently displayed a quick loss of vitality. A decline disease has been suggested as the cause, with drought as the main predisposing factor and the additional contribution of biotic agents inciting tree dieback. This study is focused on Valle d’Aosta, a dry, inner-Alpine region in NW Italy. We inferred vitality changes between years 2000 and 2007 by computing reductions in enhanced vegetation index (EVI). Image differencing was carried out on pre-processed Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery taken in late springtime and validated against ancillary ground truth. We: (1) tested whether EVI reductions in Scots pine forests were significantly higher than those of a control species and of a wetter region for the same species, (2) analyzed decline incidence as a function of site and topographic variables, and (3) assessed the relative influence of site and stand structure on decline probability by means of path analysis. Mean EVI in the study area increased due to an early onset of the 2007 growing season. Nevertheless, the incidence of decline was 6.3% and significantly greater for Scots pine than the control species and site. Low-elevation, northerly exposed sites exhibited the highest incidence of decline. Path analysis suggested that the most important determinants of decline probability were slope, solar radiation, and stand sparseness.

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Notes

  1. The coefficients adopted in the MODIS-EVI algorithm are L = 1, a 1 = 6, a 2 = 7.5, and G = 2.5. These enclose EVI in a range between −1 and +1.

  2. Data distributed by the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), located at the US Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center (http://lpdaac.usgs.gov). Accessed 28 February 2009.

  3. Pixels with pine coverage >90% (n = 594) exhibited a significant difference in mean elevation between southern slopes (1,501 m a.s.l.) and northern ones (1,253 m a.s.l., P < 0.001 after Welch t test).

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Acknowledgments

This research has been supported by European Commission, Regione Piemonte (Direzione Opere pubbliche, Difesa del suolo, Economia Montana e Foreste), Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta (Direzione Foreste) and Canton du Valais (Services des forêts et du paysage)—project INTERREG IIIA 2000–2006 Italia-Svizzera “Le pinete delle vallate alpine: un elemento del paesaggio in mutazione”. We acknowledge I.P.L.A. S.p.A. and all data providers, the crew of the Swiss Federal research Institute WSL-Birmensdorf, L. Giordano and A. Rigling for field sampling, D. Godone and F. Pirotti for helping out with remote sensing techniques, J. N. Long, R. J. DeRose and anonymous reviewers for useful comments.

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  1. Department of Agriculture, Silviculture and Land Management, University of Torino, Via L. da Vinci 44, 10095, Grugliasco, TO, Italy

    Giorgio Vacchiano, Matteo Garbarino & Renzo Motta

  2. Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Environmental Economics and Engineering, University of Torino, Via L. da Vinci 44, 10095, Grugliasco, TO, Italy

    Enrico Borgogno Mondino

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  1. Giorgio Vacchiano
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Correspondence to Giorgio Vacchiano.

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Vacchiano, G., Garbarino, M., Borgogno Mondino, E. et al. Evidences of drought stress as a predisposing factor to Scots pine decline in Valle d’Aosta (Italy). Eur J Forest Res 131, 989–1000 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-011-0570-9

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