Approccio alla caratterizzazione di un lembo di bosco vetusto: il caso di Monte Egitto

An integrated approach to characterize an old growth forest patch; the Monte Egitto case studyOld growth forests, i.e. forests which have achieved a remarkable age without or with avery limited disturbance, are nowadays subject of detailed studies in order to understand theircharacters and capacity of ecosystems services providing. In Sicily only few wooded areas areclassified as old growth forest, following the heavy land use change toward agriculture duringthe centuries. This paper reports the results of a study carried out to characterize the vegetationof a little crater on the Mount Etna, where a residual open wood of Quercus congesta (an endemicoak of Southern Italy) survived the year 1651 lava flows surrounding the crater. About35 years ago inside the crater some areas were planted with Calabrian Black Pine. As a consequencetoday there is a remarkable competition between trees of the two species. An integratedapproach monitoring was adopted, taking into account both trees and understory (herbs,shrubs and tree regeneration) characters as well as bird fauna, in order to describe the currentsituation and monitor the effect of pine plantation thinning aimed at favouring oak regenerationand reducing pine-oak competition.