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One of the most important obstacles for taking advantage of forest resources in the Italian Alps is represented by the high level of private properties fragmentation and by their small size. Thus, there is an urgent need for tools to support single or multi-forest owners to gain reliable and updated information on their forest stands so that the proper silvicultural activities following all the existing regulations can be adopted. The present research was aimed at promoting a shared management of small private forest properties in the mountainous area of Friuli Venezia Giulia (NE Italy) through the implementation of a new WebGIS tool to support forest decisions and management at different spatial scales. This new tool was developed updating and merging together different available information sources (e.g., tree species composition, the presence of protected areas, forest roads, etc.) with ad-hoc elaborated layers (e.g., standing volume, annual increment of volume, forest accessibility, etc.), also elaborating a cost analysis related to the different possible harvesting methods. The tool allows queries at the level of either a single or a group of cadastral parcels to obtain data in a format, which can be used for filling in the planning document requested by the regional authorities.

The forestry sector in Italy is facing issues related to the need to make the most of environmental, territorial and socio-economic opportunities. The research is called upon to translate technological advances into practical applications, even in the field of geomatics and information and communication technologies. The exploitation of precision technologies can foster innovation and the improvement of management processes as well as the development of new products useful for forest owners, entrepreneurs, forest technicians and citizens, with benefits for the quality of forest production, the reduction of production costs and the reduction of environmental and social impacts. This note provides a brief overview of precision technologies applied to forest farm-scale monitoring, silviculture management, logging, poplar farming, forest nursery and forest product traceability.

Aim: Striatin (Strn) is a scaffold protein expressed in cardiomyocytes (CMs) and alteration of its expression are described in various cardiac diseases. However, the alteration underlying its pathogenicity have been poorly investigated. Methods: We studied the role(s) of cardiac Strn gene (STRN) by comparing the functional properties of CMs, generated from Strn‐KO and isogenic WT mouse embryonic stem cell lines. Results: The spontaneous beating rate of Strn‐KO CMs was faster than WT cells, and this correlated with a larger fast INa conductance and no changes in If. Paced (2–8 Hz) Strn‐KO CMs showed prolonged action potential (AP) duration in comparison with WT CMs and this was not associated with changes in ICaL and IKr. Motion video tracking analysis highlighted an altered contraction in Strn‐KO CMs; this was associated with a global increase in intracellular Ca2+, caused by an enhanced late Na+ current density (INaL) and a reduced Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) activity and expression. Immunofluorescence analysis confirmed the higher Na+ channel expression and a more dynamic microtubule network in Strn‐KO CMs than in WT. Indeed, incubation of Strn‐KO CMs with the microtubule stabilizer taxol, induced a rescue (downregulation) of INa conductance toward WT levels. Conclusion: Loss of STRN alters CMs electrical and contractile profiles and affects cell functionality by a disarrangement of Strn‐related multi‐protein complexes. This leads to impaired microtubules dynamics and Na+ channels trafficking to the plasma membrane, causing a global Na+ and Ca2+ enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest planning, forest management, and forest policy require updated, reliable, and harmonized spatial datasets. In Italy a national geographic Forest Information System (FIS) designed to store and facilitate the access and analysis of spatial datasets is still missing. Among the different information layers which are useful to start populating a FIS, two are essential for their multiple use in the assessment of forest resources: (i) forest mapping, and (ii) data from Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS). Both layers are not available wall-to-wall for Italy, though different local sources of information potentially useful for their implementation already exist. The objectives of this work were to: (i) review forest maps and ALS data availability in Italy; (ii) develop for the first time a high resolution forest mask of Italy which was validated against the official statistics of the Italian National Forest Inventory; (iii) develop the first mosaic of all the main ALS data available in Italy producing a consistent Canopy Height Model (CHM). An on-line geographic FIS with free access to both layers from (ii) and (iii) was developed for demonstration purposes. The total area of forest and other wooded lands computed from the forest mask was 102.608.82 km2 (34% of the Italian territory), i.e., 1.9% less than the NFI benchmark estimate. This map is currently the best wall-to-wall forest mask available for Italy. We showed that only the 63% of the Italian territory (the 60% of the forest area) is covered by ALS data. These results highlight the urgent need for a national strategy to complete the availability of forest data in Italy.

The future dynamics of forest species and ecosystems depend on the effects of climate change and are related to forest management strategies. The expected impacts of climate change are linked to forest growth and productivity. An increase in the length of the growing season and greater productivity are likely as well as shifts in average climatic values and more variable frequencies, intensities, durations and timings of extreme events. The main aim of this work is to assess and describe the climatic requirements for Italian forest tree species. We used 7,272 field observations from Italian National Forest Inventory plots and average annual temperatures and precipitation as interpolated from raster maps with 1 km spatial resolution. On this basis we evaluated the current observed distributions of the 19 most important tree species in Italy with respect to potential climatic limits based on expert knowledge and the available literature. We found that only 46% of the observations fall within the potential joint temperature and precipitation limits as defined by expert knowledge. For precipitation alone, 70% of observations were within the potential limits, and for temperature alone, 80% of observations were within the potential limits. Similarity between current observed and potential limits differ from species-to-species with broadleaves in general more frequently distributed within the potential climatic limits than conifers. We found that ecological requirements and potential information should be revised for some species, particularly for the Pinus genus and more frequently for precipitation. The results of the study are particularly relevant given the threat of climate change effects for Italian forests which are broadly acknowledged to be a biodiversity hotspot. Further investigations should be aimed at modelling the effects of climate changes on Italian forests as a basis for development of mitigation and adaptation forest management strategies.

On October 29, 2019, the Vaia storm hits the North-Eastern regions of Italy by wind gusts exceeding 200 km h-1. The forests in these regions have been seriously damaged. This contribution illustrates the methodology adopted in the emergency phase to estimate forest damages caused by Vaia storm, both in terms of damaged forest areas and growing stock volume of fallen trees. 494 Municipalities registered forest damages caused by Vaia, destroyed or intensely damaged forest stands amounted to about 42.500 ha, spread in Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy and, only marginally, Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta. The growing stock volume of fallen trees was about 8.5 millions m3.

On the occasion of the reorganization of disciplinary fields (DF) which is under implementation by the MIUR (Italian Ministry for Research and Education), the scientific production of the Italian forest research in two characterizing disciplines (AGR05 Forest management and Silviculture, and AGR06 Wood technology and Forest Operation) has been qualitatively investigated over the period 2005-2017. Using a text mining software, 2.112 scientific articles indexed in the SCOPUS database were analyzed and the evolution over time of the Italian forest research in the above disciplines was examined. The results indicate that ecosystem functions and services have pushed forest research to overcome the aspects linked to wood production (which still remains an important competence of the two DFs), to tackle topics aiming to understand the functioning and functionality of forest ecosystems, provide tools for monitoring forest dynamics and highlight the contribution of forests and urban green areas in contrasting climate change in terms of adaptation and mitigation. As regards the AGR06 sector, studies on forest operations have been mainly focused on issues related to the forest-energy supply chain, while for wood technology the enhancement of structural uses, the modified wood, and the conservation of Wooden Cultural Heritage have emerged. Therefore, the reorganization of disciplinary fields must certainly take into account the traditional Italian forestry thinking and the aspects related to planning, management and close-to-nature forestry, but also the evolution of forestry research in the past 15 years, which led to an intense scientific activity and production, must be considered. In defining the new declarations, it will therefore be appropriate firstly to consider the peculiarity in the area of Agricultural Science, and then the specificity of skills and research that each one of the two sectors carries forward both jointly and separately, thus ensuring to both sectors an adequate representation in autonomous profiles and domains.

Several studies have been carried out to investigate soil compaction and rutting after logging vehicle traffic, based on time consuming and punctual field measurements. The objective of this study was to measure soil disturbances with two methods: (i) a new, image-based models derived by a structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry approach; and (ii) a traditional soil sampling (bulk density and shear strength). Two trails were selected in a logging area (central Italy), one trafficked by a forwarder (FT) and one trafficked by a skidder (ST). Data collection was conducted before, during and after timber extraction. Image-based models derived by SfM photogrammetry was used to highlight the differences in the shape and distribution of the disturbances along ST and FT. Results showed that the physical parameters of soil significantly changed due to both FT and ST traffic. Machine passes increased bulk density (111% and 31% for FT and ST, respectively), penetration resistance (29% and 24% for FT and ST, respectively) and shear resistance (14% and 6% for FT and ST, respectively), whereas porosity decreased (46% and 9% for FT and ST, respectively). Significant differences between FT and ST were found when comparing ruts removal and bulges with SfM photogrammetry. After logging, FT clearly showed ruts and bulges, whereas in ST ruts and bulges were not visible, but soil displacement in the direction of extraction was evident and measurable. Nevertheless, although our result shows a larger soil disturbance caused by forwarders than skidders, it is not possible to draw any general conclusions about differences between the two machines. Data about the machine passes, or the wood volumes transported over each trial area were not available; therefore, any general conclusion is misleading. SfM photogrammetry give information not available via traditional methods, thus improving impact assessment.