The potential of paleoecology for functional forest restoration planning: lessons from Late Holocene Italian pollen records
Gianluca Piovesan|Anna Maria Mercuri|Scott Mensing
We describe forest landscape transformations during the last two millennia in Italian peninsula by analyzing local (Rieti basin – Lago Lungo) and regional (RF93-30 Adriatic Sea) sediment cores. identify a dynamic ecosystem through paleoecologic reconstruction consider potential interventions for effective restoration of most ancient, least disturbed ecosystem. The degraded ecosystems consequence human activities were hygrophilous (wet) mesic forests. In Rieti Basin, on mountain slopes are undergoing some degree succession have less need restoration. However, management plans biodiversity, services resources conservation needed to achieve more sustainable development. Rieti, paleoecological investigation revealed dramatic decrease deciduous wet tree taxa time due transformation. starting point Mediterranean that preserves natural biodiversity associated requires recreating portion floodplain wetland ecological niche. Once niche has been recreated, original composed Alnus, Fraxinus excelsior, Tilia spp., Carpinus betulus Acer all species which today rare, should be planted basis microsite characteristics autoecology.
Plant Biosystems