1. Thinning to enhance biodiversity in Black pine stands: a case study in the Italian Apennine
Isabella De Meo1, Paolo Cantiani2, Claudia Becagli2,
Elisa Bianchetto1, Cecilia Cazau2, Stefano Mocali1 and Elena Salerni
CRA-ABP, Firenze (Italy)
1Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’analisi dell’Economia Agraria – Agrobiology and Pedology Centre (CRA-ABP), Florence, Italy
2Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria – Research Centre for ForestEcology and Silviculture (CRA-SEL), Arezzo, Italy
3Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita- Università degli Studi di Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, Siena, Italy
Forestry: Bridge to the Future – Sofia (Bulgaria)

2. Black pine reforestations in Italy
Black pine (Pinus nigra) was used for reforestation plantings in the 50s in Italy, mainly to restore forests degraded by over-exploitation and to afforest overgrazed pastures.
Main function of protection from erosion.
Black pine plantations in Italy occur mostly in pure stands of even-aged forests and cover around 236,467 hectares (23% of national conifers stands)
Sustainable use of pesticides
INTRODUCTION

5. Management of reforestations
Density: 2,500 trees/ha
Rotation period: 90 years
Precommercial thinning around age 15-20
Additional thinning from below every 15 years
Clear cut with artificial regeneration using species with high ecological value
Sustainable use of pesticides
INTRODUCTION

6. Management of reforestations
Before thinning
After thinning
INTRODUCTION

7. Silvicultural concerns and new strategies
Thinnings are rarely carried out because of low value of timber. When applied are delayed and realized in dense stands removing plants of lower layers.
Inneficacy of thinning both from economic and biological point of view
NEW ORIENTATIONS
Promotion of multifunctional and sustainable role of plantations.
Silvicultural treatments to enhance stand growth, stability but also biodiversity.
Establishment of natural regeneration
È stato trovato che l'attività degli isotiocianati è comparabile all'efficacia di pesticidi come il bromuro di metile ed alcuni antibiotici, gli stessi di cui ne è stato vietato l'uso dalle normative europee, senza però avere gli effetti dannosi sulla salute umana e senza dare il problema di accumulo in organismi a differenti livelli della catena alimentare.
Studi su residui di Brassica hanno dimostrato la sua efficacia nel combattere gli organismi patogeni del suolo, efficacia che è legata all'alta produzione di isotiocianati.
La maggior parte degli studi sulla biofumigazione si è però fermata a guardare solo l'effetto dei biofumiganti sui patogeni del suolo, senza però tenere conto dell'impatto che potrebbe avere sulle comunità microbiche che lo popolano. Ed è esattamente quello che questo studio si propone di fare.
INTRODUCTION 7

8. Intensity > 50% basal area
First results of recent experiments
First delayed heavy thinning from below (stand age years), eliminating most of dominated plants and part of the dominant layer.
Intensity > 50% basal area
Quick canopy closure
Strong effect on diameter growth
No mortality in the following 10 years
Per questo studio sono state utilizzate piante di pomodoro cresciute in terreno infestato da Meloidogyne incognita. Abbiamo 4 tesi di partenza:
FRAMEWORK

9. Objectives of the research
To evaluate the effects of different thinning intensity on floristic and mycological diversity
Per questo studio sono state utilizzate piante di pomodoro cresciute in terreno infestato da Meloidogyne incognita. Abbiamo 4 tesi di partenza:
FRAMEWORK

10. Geographical coordinates
Study area
- Central Apennine –
- Arezzo Province (Tuscany)
- Pratomagno-Valdarno forest (3,300 ha).
- 500 ha of black pine stands
- Age around 60
- Experimentation started in 2008
Site
Elevation m a.s.l.
Stand
Establishment
Geographical coordinates
(UTM-WGS84)
Slope %
Esposition
La Baita (A)
880
1956
43°34'53"N 11°42'47"E 20 SW
Scoiattolo (B)
900
1950
43°36'11"N 11°41'33"E 15 W
experimental
sites
EXPERIMENTAL TRIALS

11. Sampling and analyses s T0 T1 T2 T3 30d 60d 5d EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
(3 ton/ha field soil) T0 T1 T2 T3
30d
60d 5d
Microbial diversity
Nematodes
M. incognita
Plant health
Microbial diversity
Nematodes
M. incognita
Plant health
Microbial diversity
Nematodes
Microbial diversity
Nematodes
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP 11

12. three plots with different treatments
Experimental design
three plots with different treatments
EXPERIMENTAL TRIALS

13. Experimental design Control Thinning from below Selective thinning
EXPERIMENTAL TRIALS

14. Mycological and floristic diversity
24 permanent sub-plots ( m2)
Floristic sampling ( )
Vegetation species determination;
Abudance-dominance assessment;
Phytosociological classes distinction;
α-diversity by Shannon index;
Measurements on carpophores ( )
Weekly harvest of carpophores per sub-plot;
carpophores species determination;
α-diversity by Shannon index;
trophic group distinction (mycorrhiza and saprophytes);
fresh weight of carpophore (per species);
drying: carpophores 24 hours at 50°C;
dry weight of carpophores.
Suillus luteus
Silene vulgaris
EXPERIMENTAL TRIALS

15. Effects on fungal production Number of carpophores per treatment
Results
Effects on fungal production
Number of carpophores per treatment
RESULTS

16. Effects on health status of stands
Results
Effects on health status of stands
Percentage of mycorrhizae and saprophytes per treatment
RESULTS

17. Tricholoma portentosum
Results
Traditional thinning
Selective thinning
Tricholoma portentosum
Macrolepiota procera
Suillus granulatus
Below thinned plots
Control
plot
Selective thinning
Boxplot
Boxplot
Suillus luteus
control and below
control and selective
RESULTS

18. Results Effects on frequency of “forest” and “non-forest” species
Selective and below thinning
Rubus Canescens
Frequency (%) of forest species (F) and no-forest species (NF) per treatment
Pteridium Aquilinum
RESULTS

19. Conclusions (1/2)
Selective thinning stimulates plants growth and stability.
Selective thinning influences the crown cover, causing different light regime, and water and temperature conditions at soil level.
The positive change of the soil ecological conditions favours the natural process of regeneration.
Concerning flora, both thinnings caused a rise of the no-forest species.
More time is necessary to evaluate whether the thinning effect on biodiversity will last long and to observe whether no-forest species are able to regenerate
Positive influence on fungi presence, in terms of carpophores number and biodiversity.
Higher frequency of mycorrhizae with selective thinning because this treatment localizes the disturbance around the selected plants.
CONCLUSIONS

20. Conclusions (2/2)
It is important to support experiments on different thinning regimes where the objective is to implement the forest multi-functionality
A limit is that we could observe the treatment effects during two vegetative seasons after harvesting, and the first one was characterized by an unexpected climate regime.
More results will be provided thanks to the project Life13BIO/IT/ SelPiBioLife - Innovative silvicultural treatments to enhance soil biodiversity in artificial Black pine stands.

21. Thanks Partners of SelPiBioLife project
Agriculture Research Council (CRA)
Compagnia delle Foreste s.r.l.
University of Siena – Department of life sciences
Unione dei Comuni del Pratomagno
Unione dei Comuni Amiata Val d’Orcia
CONCLUSIONS

22. THANK YOU 23