Typology and synecology of aspen woodlands in the central-southern Apennines (Italy): new findings and synthesis

doi:10.3832/ifor3315-013

Typology and synecology of aspen woodlands in the central-southern Apennines (Italy): new findings and synthesis

Giovanni Russo⁽¹⁾, Franco Pedrotti⁽²⁾, Dan Gafta⁽³⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 13, Issue 3, Pages 202-208 (2020)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor3315-013
Published: May 19, 2020 - Copyright © 2020 SISEF

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In order to review and complete our knowledge of the typology and synecology of the aspen communities from the central-southern Apennines, ten original relevés were performed on the Gargano plateau and a set of 35 relevés assigned to four community types (HP: Holco mollis-Populetum tremulae; MP: Melico uniflorae-Populetum tremulae; FP: Fraxino orni-Populetum tremulae; GP: Geranio versicoloris-Populetum tremulae) were assembled from literature. These relevés along with several environmental variables either measured or estimated were involved in cluster and ordination analyses. The relevés from Gargano formed a distinctive cluster and were assigned to a new community type (SP: Stellario holosteae-Populetum tremulae ass. nova), which can be considered an Adriatic synvicariant of HP that is distributed in similar habitats (doline bottoms) but on the Tyrrhenian escarpment. At low levels of floristic similarity, the grouping of relevés in two clusters induces a sharp separation between the aspen communities distributed in the central Apennines (MP and FP) and those from the southern Apennines (SP, HP and GP), which is mainly due to compositional differences in the regional species pool. The ordination scores of relevés were best related to terrain slope, soil nitrogen, elevation, air temperature, light availability and, to a lesser extent, to soil moisture and reaction. Unlike MP and GP that appear the most mesophilous, the FP stands display a slightly more xerophilous and acidophilous character induced by the steeper slopes on which they occur. The HP habitat is the driest and lightest very likely because of the open overlying canopy, in contrast to MP stands featuring a high shrub cover. The highest occurrence of nitrophilous species was observed in SP and MP. The management of these pioneer woods should be aimed at conservation, as they play an important role in the recovery of forest herb diversity along the ecological succession towards hardwood forests.

Keywords

Differential Species, Distribution Area, Environmental Variable Fitting, Gargano, Multivariate Analyses, Phytosociologic Classification, Secondary Succession, Stellario holosteae-Populetum tremulae

Authors’ address

(1)

0000-0002-4957-7615
Gargano Land Reclamation Authority, Foggia (Italy)

(2)

0000-0001-5686-2556
Department of Biosciences, University of Camerino, Camerino (Italy)

(3)

0000-0003-0052-8449
Department of Taxonomy and Ecology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (Romania)

Corresponding author

Dan Gafta
dan.gafta@ubbcluj.ro

Citation

Russo G, Pedrotti F, Gafta D (2020). Typology and synecology of aspen woodlands in the central-southern Apennines (Italy): new findings and synthesis. iForest 13: 202-208. - doi: 10.3832/ifor3315-013

Academic Editor

Michele Carbognani

Paper history

Received: Dec 06, 2019
Accepted: Mar 28, 2020

First online: May 19, 2020
Publication Date: Jun 30, 2020
Publication Time: 1.73 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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