UNIVERSITY of PADOVA Master Course in Forest and Environmental
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UNIVERSITY OF PADOVA DEPARTMENT LAND, ENVIRONMENT, AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY (TESAF) Master course in Forest and Environmental Sciences AN EVALUATION OF BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS CHANGE THROUGHOUT DIFFERENT CHRONOLOGICAL STAGES IN A BEECH COPPICE (Municipality of Mel (BL) – North Eastern Italy) Supervisor Prof. Cristiana Colpi Student Lavinia Lasen Matric. n. 1015151 ACADEMIC YEAR 2012 - 2013 Gli alberi ti aiutano a vedere fette di cielo tra i rami Puntare a cose che non potrai mai raggiungere. Gli alberi ti aiutano a guardare la crescita accadere, Guardare i fiori esplodere e poi seccare, Vedere l’ombra cambiare al ritmo del sole, Gli uccelli strappare semi riluttanti… Un albero è una lente, Un mirino, una finestra. Attendo sotto di lui Un messaggio, O ciò che ancora deve arrivare. ROCHELLE MASS, Attendendo un messaggio A Villa di Villa, luogo privilegiato della partenza: per le numerose uscite di campo e per la nuova vita che da qui comincia. CONTENTS CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................... 1 ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... 5 RIASSUNTO ........................................................................................................................ 6 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 7 1.1 DEFINITIONS OF BIODIVERSITY AND INDICATOR ............................................... 7 1.2 BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS FOR THE FOREST TYPES OF THE VENETO REGION ........................................................................................... 15 1.3 AIM OF THE WORK AND LIMITS ............................................................................ 22 2. THE STUDIED AREA .................................................................................................... 24 2.1 THE WOODED TERRITORY OF MEL MUNICIPALITY (BL) - GENERAL TRAITS . 24 2.2 GEOLOGICAL AND HYDROGEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS ......................... 25 2.3 PEDOLOGICAL ASPECTS ...................................................................................... 26 2.4 THE CLIMATE.......................................................................................................... 27 2.5 THE VEGETATION .................................................................................................. 28 2.5.1 Typological and Phytosociological characteristics ............................................. 28 2.5.2 Bio-climate and altitudinal belts ......................................................................... 29 2.5.3 Silvicultural characteristics: past and current management ............................... 31 2.6 THE FAUNA ............................................................................................................. 34 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS ....................................................................................... 37 3.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE SAMPLE AREAS .............................................................. 37 3.2 VEGETATION RELEVÉS AND SITE DATA ............................................................. 41 3.2.1 Collection of dendrometric data ......................................................................... 41 3.2.2 Collection of floristical and phenological data .................................................... 42 3.2.3 Acquisition of the site data ................................................................................. 44 3.3 ANALYSIS AND ELABORATION OF COLLECTED DATA ...................................... 46 3.3.1 Biodiversity indicators for the forest types of the Veneto Region ....................... 46 1 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................................................... 52 4.1 DENDROMETRIC ANALYSIS.................................................................................. 52 4.2 LANDOLT AND ELLENBERG ECOLOGICAL INDEXES ......................................... 60 4.3 BIOLOGICAL AND CHOROLOGICAL SPECTRUM, COMPOSITION IN BOTANICAL FAMILIES ................................................................... 66 4.3.1. Biological spectrum ........................................................................................... 66 4.3.2 Chorological spectrum ....................................................................................... 71 4.3.3 Composition in botanical families ....................................................................... 76 4.3.4 Phytosociological spectrum ............................................................................... 79 4.4 QUALITATIVE INDICATORS OF FUNCTIONALITY ................................................ 84 4.4.1. Actual arboreal composition.............................................................................. 84 4.4.2 Composition of the ecologically coherent species ............................................. 89 4.4.3 Anthropogenic disturbance ................................................................................ 89 4.4.4 Natural dynamic trends ...................................................................................... 90 4.4.5 Influence of the silvicultural interventions on the natural forest dynamics .......... 91 4.4.6 Natural regeneration .......................................................................................... 92 4.4.7 Vegetative state ............................................................................................... 103 4.4.8 Interactions with macrofauna ........................................................................... 104 4.5 QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS OF FUNCTIONALITY ........................................... 106 4.5.1 Coppice biometric data .................................................................................... 106 4.5.2 Naturalness standards of the stands ............................................................... 109 4.5.3 Biodiversity indicators ...................................................................................... 116 4.6 QUALITIES ............................................................................................................ 123 4.6.1 Naturalistic quality ............................................................................................ 123 4.6.2 Chromatic quality ............................................................................................. 127 4.7 SUSCEPTIBILITY TO NATURAL CALAMITIES..................................................... 130 4.7.1 Forest fires ....................................................................................................... 130 4.7.2 Other calamities (wind- and snow-breakages) ................................................. 131 2 4.8 FLORISTIC RICHNESS AND OTHER INDEXES OF α-DIVERSITY ..................... 132 4.8.1 Floristic richness .............................................................................................. 132 4.8.2 Complexity indexes .......................................................................................... 137 4.8.3 Diversity indexes .............................................................................................. 140 4.8.4 Evenness indexes ............................................................................................ 142 5. CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................... 145 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 149 ANNEX 1: Dendrometric data .......................................................................................... 157 ANNEX 2: List of the registered species .......................................................................... 159 ANNEX 3: Phenological tables ........................................................................................ 163 ANNEX 4: Number of individuals/axes of every species registered in the 10 m2 transects ......................................................................................................................................... 170 ANNEX 5: Complexity, diversity and evenness indexes calculated on the basis of the individuals/axes registered in the 10 m2 sample areas .................................................... 175 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ 177 3 4 ABSTRACT The present study was conducted in beech coppice stands of different chronological stages belonging to the typologic unit “typical montane esalpic beech forest” according to Del Favero et al. (2000) classification. The aim to analyze the variations in value of the biodiversity indicators – proposed by the same Authors for generally mature stands – was pursued through the study of the ecological and functional characteristics of the forest system in sample areas of different age. The site traits and the dendrometric and phytosociological characteristics of four coppice compartments in different development stages (0, 6, 12 and 20 years) were investigated, defining their indicators sensu Del Favero et al. (2000): qualitative (such as actual arboreal composition, natural dynamic tendencies, modalities and limitations of natural regeneration), quantitative (such as the average number of herbaceous species and that of hemerophyte species) and quality indicators