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Recovering ability of deciduous Oak Forest after different stages of tree cutting in Central Italy

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Abstract

This study, performed in the frame of the European PROmotion of FORest BIOmass in the MEDitterranean project, addressed the spatio-temporal variations among stands with different ages of tree cutting using data on species composition and vertical structure collected by phytosociological survey. In the Mediterranean region coppicing and tree cutting are the most widespread management regime affecting the forest composition, structure and recovery. All woodlands investigated in central Italy belong to sub-mediterranean deciduous oak forest dominated by Quercus cerris and Q. frainetto. An integrated phytosociological and ecological approach was utilized to determine the forest changes after tree cutting. A multivariate ordination (nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling, NMDS) was applied to the floristic and environmental dataset. NMDS distinguished, along the first axis, two groups of relevés related to different age of tree cutting: Young—Y-stands (period: after 2000, cutting from 13 years ago), were well separated from Old—O-stands (period: 1950 and 1970, cutting from 43–63 years ago) and Middle (M) stands (period: 1970 and 2000, cutting from 13–43 years ago). On the same ordination the environmental variables related to climate, topography and vertical structure were projected. The Indicator species of Young and Old/Middle groups, respectively, were detected via the indicator species analysis: thermoxerophilous woody species of the Mediterranean woodlands together with deciduous thermophilous species were indicators of Young stands; whereas sciaphilous and mesophilous herbaceous species were indicators of Old/Middle stands. Significant differences in species composition and vertical structure distinguished the three groups of stands and the Young stands, with a turnover of 13 years, were particularly affected. Coverage of species and layers vary greatly in relationship with the years of cutting following the stages of vegetation succession. Finally, the climate strongly interacts with the forest management.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Prof. Michele Scardi and Prof. Cecilia Vitiello for their invaluable suggestions. We would also like to thank: Dr. Lorenzo Ciccarese, responsible and coordinator for the Project and Dr. Massimiliano Pietro Bianco from ISPRA—Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research for their technical support in forest area individuation; Dr. Roberto Crosti for his collaboration in field survey; Dr. Luca Rinaldini Forest Researchers; Dr. Daniele Dallari (Agrifolia Studio associato—University of Castel Chiodato: Gattaceca, RM); Dr. Massimiliano T. Hajny (Arezzo, Tuscany); Dr. Pio Ciliberti (Forest Researcher); Dr. Fabrizio Pepe (Director of the Matese Montane Community), Dr. Umberto De Nicola (Director of the Matese Regional Park); The Forest Service of Bracciano (Trevignano and Monterosi, RM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Biology, La Sapienza, Botanical Garden, Largo Cristina di Svezia 24, Rome, Italy

    Cristina De Nicola, Giuliano Fanelli, Anna Testi, Diego D’Angeli & Sandro Pignatti

  2. Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (CREA), Unità di ricerca per l’ingegneria agraria, Via della Pascolare, 16, 00015, Monterotondo Scalo, Rome, Italy

    Corrado Costa

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  1. Cristina De Nicola
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  2. Giuliano Fanelli
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  3. Anna Testi
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  4. Corrado Costa
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  5. Diego D’Angeli
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  6. Sandro Pignatti
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Correspondence to Cristina De Nicola.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

12210_2016_572_MOESM1_ESM.xls

Appendix Matrix of 204 plant species. Cover-abundance values were assigned to each species according to Van der Maarel (1979). The layer was reported for each species (XLS 103 kb)

Appendix Matrix of 35 environmental variables (XLS 47 kb)

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De Nicola, C., Fanelli, G., Testi, A. et al. Recovering ability of deciduous Oak Forest after different stages of tree cutting in Central Italy. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 28, 53–64 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-016-0572-0

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