Trying to link vegetation units with biomass data: the case study of Italian shrublands

Although their carbon stock is relevant in assessing the baseline for thenegotiation of future agreements with respect to carbon balance, there still are fewavailable studies concerning the biomass and the net ecosystem exchange capacityof Mediterranean shrublands. In this chapter a preliminary overview on thebiomass values concerning Italian shrubland communities and/or their dominant/characteristic woody species is provided. Many useful data on above- and belowgroundbiomass issued from investigations carried out in other Mediterraneancountries and concerning plant communities, which share the same ecological,floristic and structural traits of Italian shrublands. A preliminary finding of thisresearch is the uneven degree of knowledge concerning the different non-forestwoody communities. For example, there is still no literature on the biomass ofsome 2/3 of all the considered phytosociological units. Besides, both the aboveand the below-ground biomass of many Mediterranean shrubs show a very widerange of variation as they are strongly influenced by progressive successionprocessesand by the nature, the intensity and the frequency of disturbance factors.Thus, direct measuring of these values for each vegetation unit and dominantwoody species should be encouraged and intensified. Monitoring activities concerningbiomass increase are recommended as well: as a matter of fact, at present reference data on this topic are so limited and variable that it is not possible toconfidently estimate the annual growth of shrubland communities.