Understanding forest ecosystem dynamics to enhance provided ecosystem services and to guide sustainable forest management

The research group works in the field of forest ecology, silviculture and sustainable management (particularly focusing on mountain forests), analyzing the provided services and sustainable management models. We also study structure and natural dynamics of managed and old-growth forests in the Alps, in the Apennines and in the Balcan peninsula due to their ecological value and their reference role compared to managed stands and in the assessment of climate change impacts.

We conduct research in the field of sustainable wood chain management to enhance the production of timber assortments and for develop and enhance service ecosystem provisions and carbon credits production in mountain and low elevation forests. In mountain forests the researchers are focused mainly on their protective role; in lower elevation we focus our studies on wood production and on the provision of ecosystem services e.g. biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

We are also developing forest management methods at different scales (from small scale to landscape) also with remote sensing monitoring.

The scientific approaches adopted by the research group include:

• field surveys
• fields and lab experiments
• experimental plots, including temporary and permanent ones
• remote sensing data collection and analysis (also via UAV)
• dendroecological analysis
• modeling
• Carbon stock and carbon sink in forests.

The research group collaborates with numerous public agencies (Regions Forest Authorities, Public Agencies, Park Authorities, Ministry of Agricolture and forestry and Ministry of Environment) and private bodies for the dissemination of our applied research, providing support and guidelines for a sustainable forest management. The group also deals with training and communication by actively collaborating in regional and national projects aimed at transferring knowledge and technologies.

• USEFOL - Approcci innovativi per la valutazione della fornitura di servizi ecosistemici in foreste lombarde - Progetto Regione Lombardia (2020-2023)
• “Ideazione e sviluppo dei Piani Forestali di Indirizzo Territoriale - PFIT” IPLA, Regione Piemonte (2023-2026)
• LIFE GoProForMed GOod PRactices implementation netwOrk for FORest biodiversity conservation in MEDiterranean forests
• WILDCARD - Effects of rewilding in forest and agricultural lands on carbon sequestration and diversity - HORIZON-CL5-2022-D1-02-05 (2023-2026)
• SylvaForRes – Interreg - Closer to Nature Sylviculture ofr a Resilient Forest - 2023-2026. Programme de Coopération INTERREG VI-A France-Italia ALCOTRA(2023-2026)

• Aszalós, R., Thom, D., Aakala, T., Angelstam, P., Brūmelis, G., Gálhidy, L., Gratzer, G., Hlásny, T., Katzensteiner, K., Kovács, B., Knoke, T., Larrieu, L., Motta, R., Müller, J., Ódor, P., Roženbergar, D., Paillet, Y., Pitar, D., Standovár, T., Svoboda, M., Szwagrzyk, J., Toscani, P., Keeton, W.S., 2022. Natural disturbance regimes as a guide for sustainable forest management in Europe. Ecological Applications 32, e2596.
• Dorado-Liñán, I., Ayarzagüena, B., Babst, F., Xu, G., Gil, L., Battipaglia, G., Buras, A., Čada, V., Camarero, J.J., Cavin, L., Claessens, H., Drobyshev, I., Garamszegi, B., Grabner, M., Hacket-Pain, A., Hartl, C., Hevia, A., Janda, P., Jump, A.S., Kazimirovic, M., Keren, S., Kreyling, J., Land, A., Latte, N., Levanič, T., van der Maaten, E., van der Maaten-Theunissen, M., Martínez-Sancho, E., Menzel, A., Mikoláš, M., Motta, R., Muffler, L., Nola, P., Panayotov, M., Petritan, A.M., Petritan, I.C., Popa, I., Prislan, P., Roibu, C.-C., Rydval, M., Sánchez-Salguero, R., Scharnweber, T., Stajić, B., Svoboda, M., Tegel, W., Teodosiu, M., Toromani, E., Trotsiuk, V., Turcu, D.-O., Weigel, R., Wilmking, M., Zang, C., Zlatanov, T., Trouet, V., 2022. Jet stream position explains regional anomalies in European beech forest productivity and tree growth. Nature Communications 13, 2015.
• Journé, V., Andrus, R., Aravena, M.-C., Ascoli, D., Berretti, R., Berveiller, D., Bogdziewicz, M., Boivin, T., Bonal, R., Caignard, T., Calama, R., Camarero, J.J., Chang-Yang, C.-H., Courbaud, B., Courbet, F., Curt, T., Das, A.J., Daskalakou, E., Davi, H., Delpierre, N., Delzon, S., Dietze, M., Donoso Calderon, S., Dormont, L., Maria Espelta, J., Fahey, T.J., Farfan-Rios, W., Gehring, C.A., Gilbert, G.S., Gratzer, G., Greenberg, C.H., Guo, Q., Hacket-Pain, A., Hampe, A., Han, Q., Lambers, J.H.R., Hoshizaki, K., Ibanez, I., Johnstone, J.F., Kabeya, D., Kays, R., Kitzberger, T., Knops, J.M.H., Kobe, R.K., Kunstler, G., Lageard, J.G.A., LaMontagne, J.M., Leininger, T., Limousin, J.-M., Lutz, J.A., Macias, D., McIntire, E.J.B., Moore, C.M., Moran, E., Motta, R., Myers, J.A., Nagel, T.A., Noguchi, K., Ourcival, J.-M., Parmenter, R., Pearse, I.S., Perez-Ramos, I.M., Piechnik, L., Poulsen, J., Poulton-Kamakura, R., Qiu, T., Redmond, M.D., Reid, C.D., Rodman, K.C., Rodriguez-Sanchez, F., Sanguinetti, J.D., Scher, C.L., Marle, H.S.V., Seget, B., Sharma, S., Silman, M., Steele, M.A., Stephenson, N.L., Straub, J.N., Swenson, J.J., Swift, M., Thomas, P.A., Uriarte, M., Vacchiano, G., Veblen, T.T., Whipple, A.V., Whitham, T.G., Wright, B., Wright, S.J., Zhu, K., Zimmerman, J.K., Zlotin, R., Zywiec, M., Clark, J.S., 2022. Globally, tree fecundity exceeds productivity gradients. Ecology Letters 25, 1471-1482.
• Käber, Y., Bigler, C., HilleRisLambers, J., Hobi, M., Nagel, T.A., Aakala, T., Blaschke, M., Brang, P., Brzeziecki, B., Carrer, M., Cateau, E., Frank, G., Fraver, S., Idoate-Lacasia, J., Holik, J., Kucbel, S., Leyman, A., Meyer, P., Motta, R., Samonil, P., Seebach, L., Stillhard, J., Svoboda, M., Szwagrzyk, J., Vandekerkhove, K., Vostarek, O., Zlatanov, T., Bugmann, H., 2023. Sheltered or suppressed? Tree regeneration in unmanaged European forests. Journal of Ecology n/a.
• Larsen, J.B., Angelstam, P., Bauhus, J., Carvalho, J.F., Diaci, J., Dobrowolska, D., Gazda, A., Gustafsson, L., Krumm, F., Knoke, T., Konczal, A., Kuuluvainen, T., Mason, B., Motta, R., Pötzelsberger, E., Rigling, A., Schuck, A., 2022. Closer to nature forest management. From Science to policy 12. European Forest Institute.

WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research; Politecnico Federale di Zurigo (Svizzera)
ETH Zürich Dep. of Environmental Systems Science
IRSTEA, St. Martin d’Hères; Universitè de Montpellier CNRS (Francia)
University of Ljubljana - Department of forestry and renewable forest resources, Biotechnical Faculty (Slovenia)
University of Banja Luka - Faculty of Forestry (Bosnia-Erzegovina)
University of Montenegro, Podgorica (Montenegro)
Faculty of Forestry, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava (Romania)
Department of Geography, University of Cambridge (UK)
EFI - European Forest Institute
University of Liverpool, School of environmental sciences (Gran Bretagna)
University of Nevada, Reno, (Dep. Natural Resources and Environmental Science); Utah State University (Department of Wildland Resources and Ecology Center, Logan, Utah) (USA)