
Hearing nature’s heartbeat: towards large-scale real-time forest monitoring network in Italy
Matteo Vizzarri (1), Luca Marchesini Belelli (2), Alma Piermattei (3), Giovanni Santopuoli (4) , Marco Ottaviano (4), Francesco Parisi (4-5), Jim Yates (6), Shahla Asgharinia (6), Giorgio Alberti (7), Serena Antonucci (4), Davide Ascoli (3), Giovanna Battipaglia (8), Alessandro Bizzarri (9), Daniele Castagneri (10), Simona Castaldi (8), Claudia Cocozza (9), Marco Dionigi (11), Sophia Djacenko (1), Claudio Donati (2-5), Michele Freppaz (3), Vittorio Garfì (4), Carmelo Gentile (12), Damiano Gianelle (2), Riccardo Giusti (11), Maurizio Iannuccilli (11), Jerzy Piotr Kabala (8), Tommaso La Mantia (13-5), Stefano Larsen (2-5), Bruno Lasserre (4), Fabio Lombardi (14), Federico Magnani (15), Christian Massari (11), Giorgio Matteucci (11), Francesco Mazzenga (11), Fabio Meloni (3), Alessandro Messeri (11), Marco Montella (4), Francesco Niccoli (8), Samuele Pellizzari (10), Massimo Pindo (2), Francesco Renzi (6), Giovanna Sala (13), Fabio Salbitano (16), Luciano Sammarone (12), Costantino Battista Sirca (16-17), Donatella Spano (16-17), Erika Stefani (2), Antonio Tomao (7), Renzo Motta (3), Roberto Tognetti (18), Enrico Tomelleri (18), Giorgio Vacchiano (1), Riccardo Valentini (6), Marco Marchetti (19)
iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 18, Issue 4, Pages 202-211 (2025)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor4830-018
Published: Aug 09, 2025 - Copyright © 2025 SISEF
Research Articles
Abstract
Climate change undermines forests’ health, vitality, and, as a consequence, tree functionality, productivity, and resilience to biotic disturbances. Mountain and sub-alpine forests are particularly susceptible to climate extremes and are showing signs of degradation in Europe. Warmer temperatures, drought, higher frequency and intensity of natural disturbances increasingly alter species distribution and survival, their growing capacity, reproduction, establishment, as well as their potential adaptation to climate change. Real-time monitoring of trees’ and stands’ responses to such events provides an effective way to better understand and even foresee the adverse side effects of climate change. The use of advanced and innovative monitoring tools and devices is required for ensuring long-term, large-scale, and real-time monitoring of forest dynamics. Here, we present the TreeTalker Italia Network (TTIN), i.e., the first large-scale network of tree-proximal sensors (TreeTalkers©) at a national scale in Italy. We describe the recent advances, innovations, and potential of such devices for continuous monitoring and research. As a primer, we argue that TTIN will provide effective support to ongoing science and policy efforts for monitoring natural resources’ dynamics on a large scale (e.g., forest inventory, climate impacts), including their effects on human well-being.
Keywords
Climate-smart Forestry, Global Change, Internet of Things (IoT), Tree Monitoring, Ecophysiology
Authors’ Info
Authors’ address
Sophia Djacenko
Costantino Battista Sirca 0000-0001-7605-5700
Donatella Spano 0000-0002-5661-0241
Giorgio Vacchiano 0000-0001-8100-0659
Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy)
Claudio Donati 0000-0001-8688-1651
Damiano Gianelle 0000-0001-7697-5793
Stefano Larsen 0000-0002-6774-1407
Massimo Pindo 0000-0002-8516-9010
Erika Stefani 0000-0002-5114-5387
Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach (Italy)
Davide Ascoli 0000-0002-2671-5122
Michele Freppaz 0000-0002-4290-6850
Fabio Meloni 0000-0002-4643-8679
Renzo Motta 0000-0002-1631-3840
Università degli Studi di Torino (Italy)
Claudio Donati 0000-0001-8688-1651
Tommaso La Mantia 0000-0002-7494-742X
Stefano Larsen 0000-0002-6774-1407
NBFC - National Biodiversity Future Center (Italy)
Shahla Asgharinia 0000-0002-6210-1232
Francesco Renzi 0000-0001-8460-1935
Riccardo Valentini 0000-0002-6756-5634
Università degli Studi della Tuscia (Italy)
Costantino Battista Sirca 0000-0001-7605-5700
Donatella Spano 0000-0002-5661-0241
Antonio Tomao 0000-0001-6656-400X
Università degli Studi di Udine (Italy)
Simona Castaldi 0000-0003-3937-8169
Jerzy Piotr Kabala 0009-0007-7713-484X
Francesco Niccoli 0000-0001-5761-2604
Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli (Italy)
Claudia Cocozza 0000-0002-0167-8863
Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy)
Samuele Pellizzari 0009-0005-8095-1432
Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy)
Giovanna Sala 0000-0002-4813-7052
Università degli Studi di Palermo (Italy)
Costantino Battista Sirca 0000-0001-7605-5700
Donatella Spano 0000-0002-5661-0241
Università degli Studi di Sassari (Italy)
Donatella Spano 0000-0002-5661-0241
CMCC Foundation - Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (Italy)
Enrico Tomelleri 0000-0001-6546-6459
Libera Università di Bolzano (Italy)
Corresponding author
Paper Info
Citation
Vizzarri M, Marchesini Belelli L, Piermattei A, Santopuoli G, Ottaviano M, Parisi F, Yates J, Asgharinia S, Alberti G, Antonucci S, Ascoli D, Battipaglia G, Bizzarri A, Castagneri D, Castaldi S, Cocozza C, Dionigi M, Djacenko S, Donati C, Freppaz M, Garfì V, Gentile C, Gianelle D, Giusti R, Iannuccilli M, Kabala JP, La Mantia T, Larsen S, Lasserre B, Lombardi F, Magnani F, Massari C, Matteucci G, Mazzenga F, Meloni F, Messeri A, Montella M, Niccoli F, Pellizzari S, Pindo M, Renzi F, Sala G, Salbitano F, Sammarone L, Sirca CB, Spano D, Stefani E, Tomao A, Motta R, Tognetti R, Tomelleri E, Vacchiano G, Valentini R, Marchetti M (2025). Hearing nature’s heartbeat: towards large-scale real-time forest monitoring network in Italy. iForest 18: 202-211. - doi: 10.3832/ifor4830-018
Academic Editor
Marco Borghetti
Paper history
Received: Feb 13, 2025
Accepted: Jun 05, 2025
First online: Aug 09, 2025
Publication Date: Aug 31, 2025
Publication Time: 2.17 months
Copyright Information
© SISEF - The Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology 2025
Open Access
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