Fig 6 - uploaded by Franco Pedrotti
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56 Changes in the abundance of heliophilous species (especially Urtica dioica) in the Tilio-Carpinetum of Białowieza primeval forest (Poland) as a consequence of natural thinning during 1964-1974 (From Falin´skiFalin´ski 1978)
Source publication
Geobotany is a broad science that deals with the study of species and of vegetation communities in relation to the environment; it includes other, perhaps more familiar sciences, such as plant geography, plant ecology, and chorology, and phytosociology (plant sociology).
Citations
... Although the use of maps in paper format has now sharply declined, ecology still relies on digital cartographic documents that can be used both to investigate those spatial and temporal phenomena pertaining to the natural world (Pedrotti, 2013) and to answer conservation questions at hand. Biodiversity maps are now extensively adopted for protecting biodiversity and the operation of many conservation programmes is inherently spatial. ...
In the face of rapid biodiversity loss, attention has been increasingly focused on the application of maps towards the challenges of protecting biodiversity. However, biodiversity maps can lead, or have led us into, errors since they are too often not questioned by ecologists, who perceive them as an objective and legitimate representation of the natural world. The aim of this paper is to acknowledge and question our assumptions of (biodiversity) mapping for conservation through an epistemic approach. Discussing two dominant metaphors explaining those cognitive processes involved in mapping and the conventional nature of maps supported by the wide carto-graphic diversity adopted by human societies, I will stress the need to leave behind the belief of an objective approach for biodiversity mapping and conservation goals as opposed to an alternative mapping approach-providing viable alternatives to mitigate or face rapid biodiversity loss in a more "systemic" way. This paper illustrates how biodiversity maps (even though based on up-to-date scientific assumptions), far from being objective and a neutral transcription of nature, are inevitably affected by personal constructions, dominant culture, and sometimes ignorance, or scientific blindness. As a result, it is important to strive and rate maps-not only in terms of scientific accuracy, but also on their "viability"-which is their range of application and how successful they are in achieving the aims for which they are drawn.
... The primary scientific literature consulted to assess auto-ecological characteristics of forest tree species consists of a recent series of textbooks by Del Favero (2004 and Pedrotti (2013). However, no additional quantitative information about the auto-ecology of species beyond Bernetti (1995) could be identified. ...
The future dynamics of forest species and ecosystems depend on the effects of climate change and are related to forest management strategies. The expected impacts of climate change are linked to forest growth and productivity. An increase in the length of the growing season and greater productivity are likely as well as shifts in average climatic values and more variable frequencies, intensities , durations and timings of extreme events. The main aim of this work is to assess and describe the climatic requirements for Italian forest tree species. We used 7,272 field observations from Italian National Forest Inventory plots and average annual temperatures and precipitation as interpolated from raster maps with 1 km spatial resolution. On this basis we evaluated the current observed distributions of the 19 most important tree species in Italy with respect to potential climatic limits based on expert knowledge and the available literature. We found that only 46% of the observations fall within the potential joint temperature and precipitation limits as defined by expert knowledge. For precipitation alone, 70% of observations were within the potential limits, and for temperature alone, 80% of observations were within the potential limits. Similarity between current observed and potential limits differ from species-to-species with broadleaves in general more frequently distributed within the potential climatic limits than conifers. We found that ecological requirements and potential information should be revised for some species, particularly for the Pinus genus and more frequently for precipitation. The results of the study are particularly relevant given the threat of climate change effects for Italian forests which are broadly acknowledged to be a biodiversity hotspot. Further investigations should be aimed at modelling the effects of climate changes on Italian forests as a basis for development of mitigation and adaptation forest management strategies.
