What is it about?
The 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.
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Why is it important?
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.
Perspectives
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.
Piermaria Corona
CREA Research Centre for Forestry and Wood
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Reviewing climatic traits for the main forest tree species in Italy, iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, April 2019, Italian Society of Sivilculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF),
DOI: 10.3832/ifor2835-012.
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