Search

In the last decades, wildfires have considerably changed in their frequency, extension, intensity and this is mainly due to climate change and human activities. The year 2017 was particularly significant for the amount of hectares burned in Southern Europe and especially in Italy. Remote sensing has been used to map and monitor wildfires around the world. In the last years, the advent of monitoring programs such as Copernicus (handled by the European Commission in partnership with the European Space Agency) offers a unique opportunity to monitor several land features, including wildfires. The aim of this paper is to map the 2017 fire occurred on the Morrone Mountain, in the Majella National Park. We used pre and post Sentinel 2-A data to map burned areas and to define severity classes. We also quantified burned areas in terms of land cover categories and Natura 2000 habitat types. The analysis showed that the burned area is 2184 ha, of which 84% (1837 ha) is within the Majella National Park limits (4% of the entire Park area). Most of the burned area is occupied by shrubs and grasslands, most of which are Natura 2000 habitats. Other burned areas are coniferous plantations and beech forests. The Sentinel 2-A imagery offers consistent, reproducible and unbiased recordings of fire features, an useful tool in remote and mountainous areas such as the Majella National Park.

The contribution of meteorological surveys to the analysis of forest ecosystems: the FutMon project. Much of the wide variation in plant morphology, physiology and development biology is reflected by the capacity to adapt to climate changes. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the climate description of selected Italian forest sites (the CONECOFOR network) where a permanent environmental monitoring was carried out since 1997 within the ICP-Forests, ICP-IM framework Forest Focus Reg. and the EU-funded FutMon research project.

In urban environments, green spaces have proven to act as ameliorating factors of some climatic features related to heat stress, reducing their effects and providing comfortable outdoor settings for people. In addition, green spaces have demonstrated greater capacity, compared with built-up areas, for promoting human health and well-being. In this paper, we present results of a study conducted in Italy with the general goal to contribute to the theoretical and empirical rationale for linking green spaces with well-being in urban environments. Specifically, the study focused on the physical and psychological benefits and the general well-being associated with the use of green spaces on people when heat stress episodes are more likely to occur. A questionnaire was set up and administered to users of selected green spaces in Italy (metropolitan area of Milan and Bari - n=400). Results indicate that longer and frequent visits of green spaces generate significant improvements of the perceived benefits and well-being among users. These results are consistent with the idea that the use of green spaces could alleviate the perception of thermal discomfort during periods of heat stress.

Impact of environmental pollution and climate change on forest ecosystems: the activity of the IUFRO Research Group 7.01. The IUFRO RG 7.01 deals with "Impacts of Air Pollution and Climate Change on Forest Ecosystems". Climate change and air pollution are closely linked, although in applied scientific research and even more in political negotiations they have been largely separated. Many of the traditional air pollutants and greenhouse gases have not only common sources, but may also interact physically and chemically in the atmosphere causing a variety of environmental impacts on the local, regional and global scales. The impacts on forest ecosystems have been traditionally treated separately for air pollution and climate change. However, the combined effects of numerous climate change and air pollution factors may significantly differ from a sum of separate effects due to an array of various synergistic or antagonistic interactions. The net effect varies for different ecosystem types and geographic regions, and depends on magnitude of climate or air pollution drivers, and types of interactions between them. This paper reviews the links between air pollution and climate change and their interactive effects on forests. A simultaneous addressing of the air pollution and climate change effects on forests is an opportunity for capturing synergies and avoiding overlaps between two lines of traditional research. This could result in more effective research, monitoring and management as well as better integration of environmental policies.

The climate change may indirectly affects the forest ecosystems through the activity of phytophagous insects. The climate change has been claimed to be responsible of the range expansion northward and upward of several insect species of northern temperate forests, as well as of changes in the seasonal phenology. Several papers have dealt with the prediction of the most likely consequences of the climate change on the phytophagous insects, including some of the most important forest pests. Increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere involve an increase of the C/N balance of the plant tissues, which in turn results in a lower food quality for many defoliating insects. Some insects respond by increasing the level of leaf consumption and consequently the damage to the tree, whereas others show higher mortality and lower performance. The level of plant chemical defenses may also be affected by a change of CO2. The temperature is affecting either the survival of the insects which are active during the cold period, such as the pine processionary moth, or the synchronization mechanism between the host and the herbivores, as in the case of the larch bud moth. An increase of temperature may alter the mechanism by which the insects adjust their cycles to the local climate (diapause), resulting in faster development and higher feeding rate, as in the case of the spruce webspinning sawfly outbreaks in the Southern Alps.

A paper recently published on PNAS provides a new evidence for an increase in forest growth in temperate forests. The possible causes of this process are discussed. The results show a relation between this change in tree growth with the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration, temperature, and length of growth season. A better understanding of the specific mechanisms involved and the assessment of the consequences on the current and future global changes are needed.