Diversity: scales and levels; species, functional traits, communities. Measures of gamma, alpha and beta diversity. Methods for the study of vegetation; Physiognomical and floristic-ecological approaches. Phytosociology. Species as bioindicators. Biodiversity and functioning of forest ecosystems. Measures of species diversity. Forest geobotany in Europe and Italy. Zones and belts. Italian forests: synecology and biodiversity.
Textbooks:
D. Ubaldi - Geobotanica e Fitosociologia. Ed. CLUEB (Bologna), 1997
S. Pignatti – I Boschi d’Italia, sinecologia e biodiversità. Ed. UTET, 1998.
C. Ferrari - Biodiversità. Dal genoma al paesaggio, 2° ed. Zanichelli, 2010.
Kent M., Coker P. – Vegetation description and analysis - a practical approach. CRC, 1992.
Scherer-Lorenzen M., Körner Ch., E.-D. Schulze (Eds.). 2005. Forest Diversity and Function. Ecological Studies 176. Springer.
Lecture notes (in Italian) edited by the teacher are also provided.
Learning Objectives
Knowledge acquired: concepts and methods for the typological and ecological study of the forest vegetation and the analysis of plant diversity. Identification of the herbaceous flora of the Italian woodlands and ecological meaning of selected bioindicator taxa. Use of quantitative methods for the study of plant diversity and identification of forest community types on a floristic-ecological basis. Knowledge of the most important types of Italian woodlands in terms of structure, syntaxonomy, biodiversity, dynamic role, conservation importance and other functions.
Competence acquired (at the end of the course):
Methodologies for the analysis of the forest vegetation and their application in different environments. Use of the phytosociological approach and multivariate techniques.. Identification of understorey flora of Italian woodlands and of selected bioindicator taxa.
Knowledge of the main Italian forest types in terms of structure, syntaxonomy, synecology, biodiversity, dynamic role, conservation importance, productivity and other functions.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):
Capacity to plan and develop typological and ecological studies of woodlands from field sampling to data analysis using statistical techniques. Capacity to recognize numerous herbaceous species of woodlands and to understand their ecological meaning. Capacity to identify the main forest types in Italy and to interpret their synecology, biodiversity, dynamic role, conservation importance and functions. Analysis of plant species diversity of forest communities. Management implications.
Total hours of the course (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc...): 120
Hours reserved to private study and other indivual formative activities: 70
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 24
Contact hours for: Laboratory (hours): 4
Contact hours for: Laboratory-field/practice (hours): 20
Seminars (hours): 2
Type of Assessment
Exam modality: discussion of home-work documents prepared by the student on the basis of field data collected during field stages. Discussion of concepts and methods and/or synecological aspects concerning the Europaean and Italian forest vegetation.
Course program
Diversity: general concepts. The scales and levels of biological diversity. Alpha, beta and gamma diversity. Species and community diversity. General characters of the Italian forest flora; functional traits of the forest trees. Concepts of flora and vegetation. Potential and real vegetation. Dynamics. Successions and climax. Examples of secondary successions from forest vegetation. Serial and catenal contacts. Physiognomical methods; structure, life and growth-forms. Phytosociology: concept of phytocoenose and association; plant community. The forest phytocoenose and its properties as a complex system. The syntaxonomical system: alliance, order, class. Character-species and their ecological meaning. The field sampling of the vegetation and the phytosociological relevè. Minimal area. Data analysis: traditional sorting of relevès and computer-assited techniques of classification and ordination.
Identification of plant communities (syntaxa) and character-species. Analysis of alpha and beta diversity with quantitative methods (Shannon index, and others). Qualitativeaspects of biodiversity: rareand vulnerable species, etc.; taxonomic singularity and distinctness, phylogenetic diversity, examples and applications. The functional significance of forest biodiversity: relationships between diversity and main ecosystem functions, productivity and stability.
Survey of the most important forest types in Europe. The EUNIS classification system. Syntaxonomy, synecology and biodiversity of the main types of Italian woodlands.
Quercetea ilicis: mesomediterranean and xeromediterranean vegetation (Quercetalia ilicis; Pistacio-Rhamnetalia). Querco-Fagetea: European mixed broad-leaf woodlands; supramediterranean termophilous oak-woods (Quercetalia pubescentis); west and mid-European mesophilous-acidophilous oak-woods (Carpinion, Quercetalia robori-petraeae); hygrophilous and riparian woods (Populetalia albae); montane beech wood (Fagetalia).
Vaccinio-Piceetea: boreo-alpine conifer woods with spruce, larch and pines. Erico-Pinetea: alpine and mediterranean-montane pine woods.
Habitat forestali prioritari in Italia, la Rete Natura 2000 ed il manuale d'interpretazione degli habitat secondo la direttiva 92/43 CEE
Prioritary Forest habitats in Italy according to the EU habitat directive 92/43, the Rete Natura 2000 system, and the interpretation manual of the Italian habitats.