Forest vulnerability and tree mortality in the Mediterranean: Impacts and Opportunities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamir Klein
Keyword(s):  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Common Garden ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Aleppo Pine ◽  
Mediterranean Forests ◽  
Mortality Pattern ◽  
Key Species ◽  
The Mediterranean

<p>The Mediterranean basin is a mosaic of human and natural landscapes, many of which are important forests and woodlands. Among global biomes, it has been under the longest anthropogenic stress, and today, in addition to the ongoing warming, it experiences drying. In my talk I will give examples from new research on the impacts of these processes on Mediterranean forests, as well as opportunities for increasing their sustainability under intensifying change.</p><p>Aleppo pine is perhaps the single most important forest tree species for the region, and has been grown for decades in common garden plots of provenances from around the region. Forest scientists from Spain, Italy, Greece and Israel, teamed up to synthesize the results of these provenance trials. Together, we produced the temperature and precipitation growth sensitivity profiles for Aleppo pine. Next, these profiles were applied on future climate maps, to show the potential expansion of this key species northward, as well as its extinction in many southern locations. In a seven decades-long tree mortality study across Israel, this mortality pattern is already occurring, driven by hotter and longer drought periods.</p><p>My current research is focused on finding new avenues to ensure the long-term existence of forests and trees in the Mediterranean. Examples include: (1) Mixed forests, with native broadleaf and conifer species coexisting, have high resilience, thanks to interspecific niche partitioning; (2) Native fruit trees have higher drought resistance than their cultivated relatives, and should be protected and integrated into local agriculture; (3) Native savannah trees from the southern fringes of the region are becoming more important, and offer new resilience strategies; and (4) Variations among Aleppo pine ecotypes give hope for the future suitability of this species across the Mediterranean.</p>

scholarly journals Preference by Donkeys and Goats among Five Mediterranean Forest Species: Implications for Reducing Fire Hazard

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1302
Author(s):  
Jordi Bartolomé ◽  
Jordi Miró ◽  
Xavier Panadès ◽  
Maria José Broncano ◽  
Josefina Plaixats ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Pinus Halepensis ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Mediterranean Forest ◽  
Mediterranean Forests ◽  
Forest Species ◽  
Rubus Ulmifolius ◽  
Key Species ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Cafeteria Test

During the second half of the 20th century, European countries experienced an increase in their forest area due to the global change. Consequently, there has been an increase in large forest fires, mainly in the Mediterranean basin, and this has forced the development of several types of prevention programs. One of them is the control of the understory by livestock. In this sense, browsing with a combination of donkeys and goats could be a good option, as both animals usually feed on forest species. However, little is known about their preferences for the key species of the Mediterranean forest. Using a cafeteria test, the preferences and consumption of both animals have been determined for five typical species of the Mediterranean forest, such as Quercus ilex, Pinus halepensis, Phillyrea latifolia, Rubus ulmifolius, and Brachypodium retusum. Results showed that donkeys and goats could act complementarily in the reduction of the fuel biomass of forests. Donkeys appear to act more on fine fuel, such as B. retusum, and goats on the more pyrophyte species, in this case P. halepensis. In addition, given that donkeys are at severe risk of extinction in Europe, this role of providing ecosystem services could contribute to their conservation. Despite this study only showing that goats and donkeys would consume all five presented plant species and that there are some differences in consumption during a short-term test, it constitutes a useful first step for conservation and fire prevention in the Mediterranean forests.

scholarly journals Seasonal occurrence of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in southern Syria

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Mansour ◽  
Fater Mohamad
Keyword(s):  
Ceratitis Capitata ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Mediterranean Fruit Fly ◽  
Diospyros Kaki ◽  
Population Fluctuations ◽  
Sampling Studies ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract Population fluctuations of the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata, were investigated between 1999 and 2001 at several locations representing fruit production areas in the southern part of Syria (Damascus Ghota, Zabadani, Sargaiah, Rankus, Orneh and Ain Al-Arab). Medfly adults were monitored weekly all year around using Jackson traps baited with trimedlure dispensers. Larvae were also sampled in Damascus Ghota by collecting fruits from ripe or ripening fruit trees and recording the number of larvae emerged from these fruits. In addition, suspected overwintering refuges were sampled at weekly intervals during the three coldest months of the year (December – February) and the number of collected larvae was recorded. The results of trap catches and fruit sampling studies showed a similar pattern of occurrence of medfly populations in the study areas, particularly in Damascus Ghota, during the three years of the study. In Damascus Ghota, flies were caught continuously from early June to late December with some variability between years. Two distinct periods of high fly activity were observed: the first one occurred in August and the second in November with a much higher amplitude. In general, seasonal fluctuations in the pattern of occurrence were influenced by differences in temperature and abundance of preferred host fruits. Traps on fig Ficus carica and oriental persimmon Diospyros kaki trees caught the highest numbers of flies, and fruits collected from these trees showed the highest level of infestation, reaching 100% for fig fruit late in the season. Sampling fruits (in Damascus Ghota) from trees during the three coldest months of the year showed that a small population of medfly larvae was able to survive winter conditions in prickly pear Opuntia vulgaris fruit left on the trees. In the other areas of the study (Zabadani, Sargaiah, Rankus, Orneh and Ain Al-Arab), only a few flies were caught.

scholarly journals Genetic signals of ancient decline in Aleppo pine populations at the species’ southwestern margins in the Mediterranean Basin

Hereditas ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 147 (5) ◽  
pp. 165-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamari Salim ◽  
Krassimir D. Naydenov ◽  
Haloui Benyounes ◽  
Francine Tremblay ◽  
El Hafid Latifa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Aleppo Pine ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Effects of air quality on the health of Mediterranean forests

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrián García Bruzón ◽  
Patricia Arrogante Funes ◽  
Laura Muñoz Moral
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Random Forest ◽  
Aridity Index ◽  
Plant Health ◽  
Mediterranean Forests ◽  
Random Forest Algorithm ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Heterogeneous Variables ◽  
Peninsular Spain

<p>The climate change has turned out to be a determining factor in the development of forest in Spain. Production systems have emitted polluting gases and other particles into the atmosphere, for which some plants have not yet developed adaptation systems. Among the most harmful pollutants for the environment are gases such as nitrous oxides, ozone, particulate matter.</p><p>However, this condition is not the same in Peninsular Spain, and the Balearic Islands since the plant compositions differ in the territory and the bioclimatic, topographic, and anthropic characteristics. Monitoring the vegetation with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution, studying variables conditioning plant health is a challenge from the nature of the variables and the amount of data to be handled. </p><p>The Mediterranean forest is one of the most ecosystem affected by climate change because of usually experimented long periods of drought that, in combination with increased temperatures, can drastically reduce the photosynthetic activity of trees and therefore the biomass of forests.</p><p>That is why the application of environmental technologies based on Remote Sensing (which provide plant health indices from passive sensors on satellite platforms and other variables of interest), Geographic Information Systems (to integrate, process, analyze spatial and temporal data) and machine learning models (which facilitate the extraction of relationships between variables, conditioning factors and predict patterns). </p><p>In this regard, this work's objective is to evaluate the possible effect that different pollutants have on the health of the vegetation, measured from the annual values of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), in the Mediterranean forests of Peninsular Spain. To achieve this, we are used machine learning techniques using the Random Forest algorithm. The study has also been done with various climatic, topographic, and anthropic variables that characterize the forest to carry it out. </p><p>The results showed that certain variables such as the aridity index had generated the NDVI values and therefore plant development, while others are limiting factors such as the concentration of certain pollutants and the direct relationship between them particulates and NOx. This study can verify how the Random Forest algorithm offers reliable results, even when working with heterogeneous variables. </p>

scholarly journals Effects of Rootstock and Budding Height on Bacterial Canker in French Prune

Plant Disease ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 86 (5) ◽  
pp. 543-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Sayler ◽  
S. M. Southwick ◽  
J. T. Yeager ◽  
K. Glozer ◽  
E. L. Little ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Prunus Persica ◽  
Disease Incidence ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Bacterial Canker ◽  
Prunus Domestica ◽  
Severity Of Disease ◽  
Prunus Cerasifera ◽  
Disease Pressure

Bacterial canker is one of the most economically important diseases of stone fruit trees, including ‘French’ prune (Prunus domestica). Field trials were conducted to evaluate the effect of rootstock selection and budding height on the incidence and severity of bacterial canker in four orchards with low to high disease pressure. Treatments included French prune scions low-grafted on ‘Lovell’ peach (Prunus persica) rootstocks as well as Myrobalan 29C (Prunus cerasifera) plum rootstocks grafted at 15, 50, and 90 cm above the rootstock crown. Another treatment consisted of growing Myrobalan 29C plum rootstocks in the field for one growing season, then field-grafting French prune buds onto rootstock scaffolds. Lovell peach rootstock provided the greatest protection from bacterial canker as measured by disease incidence and tree mortality in all orchards. Field-budded rootstocks and rootstocks grafted at the highest budding height provided moderate levels of resistance to bacterial canker. These treatments reduced the incidence but not the severity of disease.

scholarly journals Genome-wide footprints in the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) unveil a new domestication pattern of fruit trees in the Mediterranean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Baumel ◽  
Gonzalo Nieto Feliner ◽  
Frederic Medail ◽  
Stefano La Malfa ◽  
Mario Diguardo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Plant Domestication ◽  
Mediterranean Forests ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Western Morocco ◽  
Carob Tree ◽  
The Mediterranean

Intense research efforts on phylogeography over the last two decades uncovered major biogeographical trends and renewed our understandings of plant domestication in the Mediterranean. We aim to investigate the evolutionary history and the origin of domestication of the carob tree that has been cultivated for millennia for food and fodder. We used >1000 microsatellite genotypes to identify carob evolutionary units (CEUs) based on genetic diversity structure and geography. We investigated genome-wide diversity and evolutionary patterns of the CEUs with 3557 SNPs generated by restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq). The 56 populations sampled across the Mediterranean basin, classified as natural, semi-natural or cultivated, were examined. Although, RADseq data are consistent with previous studies identifying a strong West-to-East genetic structure and considerable admixture in some geographic parts, we reconstructed a new phylogeographic scenario with two migration routes occurring from a single refugium likely located in South-Western Morocco. Our results do not favour the regionally bound or single origin of domestication. Indeed, our findings support a cultivation model of locally selected wild genotypes, albeit punctuated by long-distance westward dispersals of domesticated varieties by humans, concomitant with major cultural waves by Romans and Arabs in the regions of dispersal. Ex-situ efforts to preserve carob genetic resources should prioritize accessions from both western and eastern populations, with emphasis on the most differentiated CEUs situated in South-Western Morocco, South Spain and Eastern Mediterranean. Our study underscores the relevance of natural and seminatural habitats of Mediterranean forests and their refugia in the conservation efforts of tree crops.

Assessment of the climate change-induced impact on forest vegetation in the Mediterranean Basin using an integrated approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Castellaneta ◽  
Angelo Rita ◽  
Jesus Julio Camarero ◽  
Michele Colangelo ◽  
Francesco Ripullone
Keyword(s):  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Mediterranean Forests ◽  
Climate Extreme ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
Climate Anomalies ◽  
Forest Sites ◽  
Tree Ring Data

<p>The recent increase in the frequency and severity of heat weaves and droughts has intensified efforts to understand their impact on forest productivity and tree vigor. These climate extreme events are expected to reduce productivity and increase the tree mortality rate, particularly in drought-prone Mediterranean forests. Thus, our goal is to quantify the impacts of hotter droughts on forests vulnerable to drought in the Italian and Iberian peninsulas by using remotely sensed data (NDVI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) to track vegetation changes and tree-ring data from forest sites showing dieback to assess tree’s growth trends. The survey involved the comparison of stands showing dieback where trees showed growth decline and high defoliation rates (decay) versus stands where trees showed low or no defoliation. Our outcomes will be discussed i) to describe the effects of climate anomalies on forest vulnerability in terms of resistance and resilience, and ii) to evaluate the existence of a correlation between vegetation response and “post-disturbance” recovery.</p>

Phytosociology and ecology of the Mediterranean forests ecosystems in the Amalfi Coast (Monti Lattari, Italy)

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Cancellieri ◽  
Giulia Caneva ◽  
Maurizio Cutini
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Forests ◽  
The Mediterranean

scholarly journals The importance of non-forest tree stand features for protection of the Syrian Woodpecker Dendrocopos syriacus in agricultural landscape: a case study from South-Eastern Poland

2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (5) ◽  
pp. 1825-1835
Author(s):  
Jerzy Michalczuk
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Dendrocopos Syriacus

Abstract Non-forest tree stands are important habitats for many species of birds in the agricultural landscape. They are also the main habitat of the Syrian Woodpecker Dendrocopos syriacus, whose numbers have been decreasing in recent years in some parts of Europe. Recognition of the habitat requirements of this species may help better planning of its protection in the context of the treed agricultural landscapes. During this study, the habitat preferences of the Syrian Woodpecker were determined in the agricultural landscape of South-Eastern Poland. A set of 12 habitat parameters of tree stands located in the breeding territories of the Syrian Woodpecker (n = 122) and in randomly chosen control areas (n = 122) located outside the range of the breeding territories of this species were characterized. The number and species diversity of trees was significantly higher in stands located in Syrian Woodpecker territories than in the random control areas. Stands occupied by breeding pairs also had trees of worse health condition and a larger proportion of fruit trees. The model best explaining the probability of the occurrence of the species indicates that the Syrian Woodpecker requires mainly the presence of tree stands with a greater species diversity of trees, as well as tree stands in worse health condition. When planning the protection of this species’ habitats in the agricultural landscape, the characteristics of non-forest tree stands noted above should be taken into account.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document