Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The whole study area covers nearly 80 km
2
. This composite landscape is still wide-
spread in the southern Alps, although it is undergoing a rapid transformation because
of the combined effect of land use intensification in some more productive areas
and the abandonment of more marginal ones. The landscape is characterized by the
spatial succession of the three typical mountain management systems: grasslands
(Arrenatheretum), pastures (Festucaetum) and mixed coniferous and broadleaf for-
ests (Abietis-fagetum). The area analysed is characterized by an uneven-aged mixed
forest dominated by
Abies alba
Mill. (70 %),
Fagus sylvatica
L. (15 %) and
Picea
abies
(L.) H.Karst (15 %), with an average of 1,300 stems ha
−
1
(dbh > 7.5 cm) and
a LAI of 9.6. The canopy has a dominant layer reaching 33-38 m and crown lower
limits at about 12 m. In the understorey suppressed beeches form a discontinuous sec-
ond layer from 0 to 4 m. The site is located on a gently rolling karst plateau and has
a homogeneous vegetated fetch larger than 1 km in all directions, except for a 45°
sector (300 m fetch in the SSW direction). Soils are generally well developed brown
earth lying on a calcareous bedrock with the following characteristics in the 0-30 cm
horizon: total SOC
=
11.8 1.8 kg C m
−
2
, total N
=
0.61 0.05 kg N m
−
2
, CN
ratio
=
15.9 1.0.
2.2.11 Lecceto (IT-Lec)
Lecceto forest (43.30359° N; 11.26975° E) is a Holm oak coppice with a shift of
18-20 years located South-East of Siena, near the centre of the region of Tuscany,
at about 300 m.a.s.l. It is the residual part of a broader forest named Selva del
Lago for its proximity, during the Middle Ages, to a marshy area, subsequently
drained in the XVIII century. That forest covered a surface of 10 km from north
to south and 7 km from east to west. Because of the large use of wood during the
Middle Ages, the Selva del Lago forest was subjected to specific rules of manage-
ment and became a crucial crossroad between surrounding rural communities. In
the XI century the most important Augustinian hermitage of Siena territory was
founded in the middle of the forest. Since 1972 the hermitage was turned into a
monastery of Augustinian cloistered nuns.
The forest covers an area of 900 ha and Holm oak represents 81 % of the total
tree canopy; others species are represented by
Arbutus unedo
L.,
Juniperus com-
munis
L.,
Quercus pubescens
L.,
Phillyrea latifolia
L.,
Fraxinus ornus
L.
The soil of the site is rocky and shallow, characterized by metamorphic schists
and anagenite, and secondarily by cavernous limestone and carsism phenomena.
The climate of Lecceto is a Mediterranean one, characterized by a strong seasonal-
ity with rainfall concentrated in autumn-winter, high inter-annual variability and
frequent extreme events, such as summer drought and heatwaves. The average
cumulated annual precipitation (1961-1990) at the nearest rain gauge is 780 mm,
with a minimum in July (29 mm) and a maximum in November (108.7 mm);
average annual temperature is 13.5 °C; July is the hottest month and January the
coldest.
