Angelo Rita

University of Naples Federico II | UNINA · Department of Agriculture

A major component of climate change is an increase in temperature and precipitation variability. Over the last few decades, an increase in the frequency of extremely warm temperatures and drought severity has been observed across Europe. These warmer and drier conditions may reduce productivity and trigger compositional shifts in forest communities...

Understanding processes controlling forest dynamics has become particularly important in the context of ongoing climate change, which is altering the ecological fitness and resilience of species worldwide. However, whether forest communities would be threatened by projected macroclimate change or unaffected due to the controlling effect of local si...

Wood encodes environmental information that can be recovered through the study of tree-ring width and wood anatomical variables such as lumen area or cell-wall thickness. Anatomical variables often provide a stronger hydroclimate signal than tree-ring width, but they show a low tree-to-tree coherence. We investigate the sources of variation in tree...

Deciphering the spatial patterns of alpine treelines is critical for understanding the ecosystem processes involved in the persistence of tree species and their altitudinal limit. Treelines are thought to be controlled by temperature, and other environmental variables but they have rarely been investigated in regions with different land‐use change...

Water transport, mechanical support and storage are the vital functions provided by the xylem. These functions are carried out by different cells, exhibiting significant anatomical variation not only within species but also within individual trees. In this study, we used a comprehensive dataset to investigate the consistency of predicted hydraulic...

This study focused on Pinus mugo dieback in the Maiella massif, categorizing patches into four sections: OUT, FRONT, DEAD, and IN. Vegetation analyses revealed that increased light in DEAD belts promoted higher plant diversity, while OUT belts had the lowest diversity. A high mortality rate in mature trees was followed by recolonization within dieb...

Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri Commissario delegato per gli eccezionali eventi meteorologici verificatisi nei territori dell’Isola di Ischia il 26 novembre 2022 ex OCDPC 948/2022

The reduction of hydrophilic characteristics and the migration of extractives induce important changes in terms of wood surface wettability. This research involves the application of two different strategies of wood modification, namely thermo-vacuum cylinder (TVP), and press-vacuum plant (PVP) (Ferrari et al. 2013, Cetera et al. 2019). The details...

Assessing and reconstructing the impacts of defoliation caused by insect herbivores on tree growth, carbon budget and water use, and differentiating these impacts from other stresses and disturbances such as droughts requires multi-proxy approaches. Here we present a methodological framework to pinpoint the impacts of pine processionary moth (Thaum...

The link between biodiversity and ecosystem function can depend on environmental conditions. This contingency can impede our ability to predict how biodiversity‐ecosystem function (BEF) relationships will respond to future environmental change, causing a clear need to explore the processes underlying shifts in BEF relationships across large spatial...

In the Mediterranean region of southern Europe, Castanea sativa Mill. (Castanea) coppice stands are being invaded by non-native pioneer tree species due to recurrent coppicing and wildfire disturbances. There is a need to control the spread of non-native tree species in Castanea coppices due to their pivotal socio-economic role, however, to facilit...

We investigated the dendroclimatic response of a Pinus heldreichii metapopulation distributed over a wide elevation interval (from 882 to 2143 m a.s.l.), spanning from low mountain to upper subalpine vegetation belts in the southern Italian Apennines. The tested hypothesis is that wood growth along an elevational gradient is non-linearly related to...

Tree species inhabiting riparian forests under Mediterranean climate have evolved to face summer water shortage but may fail to cope with future increases in drought severity. Thus, understanding tree growth phenological variations in response to environmental conditions is necessary to assess the impact of seasonal drought in riparian forests. In...

Past anthropogenic disturbances lowered the altitudinal distribution of the Mediterranean Fagus sylvatica forests below 2,000 m a.s.l. Accordingly, our current understanding of the southern distribution range of F. sylvatica forests is restricted to managed stands below this elevation, neglecting relic forests growing above. This study has shed lig...

The boreal hemisphere has been experiencing increasing extreme hot and dry conditions over the past few decades, consistent with anthropogenic climate change. The continental extension of this phenomenon calls for tools and techniques capable of monitoring the global to regional scales. In this context, satellite data can satisfy the need for globa...

The boreal Hemisphere has been experiencing increasing extreme hot and dry conditions over the past few decades, consistent with anthropogenic climate change expectations. The continental extension of the phenomenon calls for tools and techniques capable of monitoring the global to regional scales. In this context, the satellite is the only system...

Key message Managing forest residues according to the carbon content of the soil helps to minimize the ecological footprint of their removal. Context In Mediterranean mountain ecosystems, unsustainable harvesting of wood residues might contribute to land degradation, carbon, and nutrient depletion in forest soils. Aims This study aimed to assess...

Wildfires have large-scale and profound effects on forest ecosystems, and they force burned forest areas toward a wide range of post-fire successional trajectories from simple reduction of ecosystem functions to transitions to other stable non-forest states. Fire disturbances represent a key driver of changes in forest structure and composition due...

Wildfires have large-scale and profound effects on forest ecosystems, and they force burned forest areas toward a wide range of post-fire successional trajectories from simple reduction of ecosystem functions to transitions to other stable non-forest states. Fire disturbances represent a key driver of changes in forest structure and composition due...

Several dieback episodes triggered by droughts are revealing the high vulnerability of Mediterranean forests, manifested as declines in growth, increased defoliation, and rising mortality rates. Understanding forest responses to such climate extreme events is of high priority for predicting their future vegetation dynamics. We examined how remotely...

Several forest dieback and mortality phenomena reported across the Italian Peninsula over the last years underline an enhanced forest vulnerability in response to climate extremes, mainly heat waves and dry spells. Hundreds or even thousands hectares of forests completely die out over few years, causing considerable negative impacts on ecosystem se...

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Riparian ash forests subjected to seasonal drought are among the most endangered ecosystems in Europe. They are threatened by climate warming causing aridification and by land-use changes modifying river flow. To assess the impacts of these two stress factors on riparian forests, we studied radial growth and xylem anatomical traits in five narrow-l...

We propose some ideas for an adaptive silviculture in the Mediterranean biogeographic region that could assist in shaping forests which are less vulnerable to extreme climatic events, such as those drought and heat waves that are expected to be more intense and frequent in the future. We discuss about silvicultural approaches that would aim to: reg...

Key message Juglans, Fraxinus, Quercus and Pinus species seem to better maximize the carbon–water ratio providing useful indications on species selection for forestry plantations in areas with increasing drought risk. Abstract Maximizing carbon sequestration for a given water budget is extremely important in the contest of climate change in the Me...

Old-growth mountain forests represent an ideal setting for studying long-term impacts of climate change. We studied the few remnants of old-growth forests located within the Pollino massif (southern Italy) to evaluate how the growth of conspecific young and old trees responded to climate change. We investigated two conifer species (Abies alba and P...

Mediterranean riparian forests are among the most threatened ecosystems in Europe. These ecosystems are exposed to land-use changes threatening their reduced habitat and by global warming, which is already triggering aridification processes. To assess the impact of these major threats, we studied the radial-growth responses to climate and drought i...

Questions Elevational treelines are expected to shift upwards in response to warming climate. However, worldwide treeline upward shifts are inconsistent because local scale factors can affect the response to temperature. In this study, we explore the hypothesis that in the Apennines, where the current altitudinal treeline position is largely depres...

Wildfire disturbances severely modifies the ecosystem structure and natural regeneration processes. Predicting mid- to long-term post-fire vegetation recovery patterns, is pivotal to improve post-fire management and restoration of burned areas forest ecosystems management. Currently, many research efforts have been conducted, in order to monitor an...

Terrestrial ecosystems and forests in particular, are important components because of their key role in reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations by storing a large amount of carbon in biomass and soils. Increasing attention is being paid to forestland area, which accounts for 30% of the total land surface and acts as the main C store in t...

Aims Data about woody debris (WD) decomposition are very scarce for the Mediterranean basin. The specific aim of this work is to explore the relationships between WD traits with the decay rate. Methods We carried out a three-year litterbag decomposition experiment using ten WD types incubated in two plant communities (i.e. shrubland and woodland)...

Terrestrial ecosystems, and forests in particular, are important components of land processes because of their key role in reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations by storing a large amount of carbon in tree biomass and soils. Increasing attention is being paid to forestland area, which accounts for 30% of the total land surface and acts...

Sperry’s packing rule predicts the optimum packing of xylem conduits in woody plants, where the frequency of xylem conduits varies approximately inversely with the square of the conduit radius. However, it is well established that such anatomical disposition does not remain fixed but is subject to a suite of adaptations induced by physiological con...

Purpose of Review We conducted a literature survey and meta-analysis to assess, in Mediterranean forests impacted by drought, the role of xylem functional traits as indicators of tree health, and their potential to adjust over a range of climatic conditions to support tree performance and survival. We aimed also to depict the geographic variability...

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The figures previously used are the old version and some symbols in the figure captions were displayed incorrectly. Final versions of figures with their captions are provided here.

In accordance with European objectives, the Basilicata region intends to promote the use of energy systems and heat generators powered by lignocellulosic biomass, so the present study aimed to investigate the availability of logging residues and most suitable areas for the construction of bioenergy production plants. The life cycle assessment (LCA)...

The disturbance and recovery of European Forest ecosystems are greatly affected by wildfires, requiring continued monitoring to observe vegetational structure altered over time. One of the most important parameters is "fire severity" defined as magnitude of environmental change caused by wildfires. Due to correlation between severity and post-fire...

In Mediterranean countries, in the year 2017, extensive surfaces of forests were damaged by wildfires. In the Vesuvius National Park, multiple summer wildfires burned 88% of the Mediterranean forest. This unprecedented event in an environmentally vulnerable area suggests conducting spatial assessment of the mixed-severity fire effects for identifyi...

Background Fagus sylvatica forms the treeline across the Apennines mountain range, with an average elevation of 1589 m a.s.l. Previous studies evidenced that the current position of the treeline in the Apennines is heavily depressed as a result of a complex interaction between climatic factors and the past human pressure. In this study we correlate...

In trees, wood anatomy is a more precise and informative measure of hydraulic responses to drought than radial growth. Tree populations located near the equatorial-range edge of their distribution (rear edge) are used to monitor responses to changes in hydroclimate; however, few studies have assessed the wood anatomy of these populations. We measur...

Aim The aim was to decipher Europe‐wide spatio‐temporal patterns of forest growth dynamics and their associations with carbon isotope fractionation processes inferred from tree rings as modulated by climate warming. Location Europe and North Africa (30‒70° N, 10° W‒35° E). Time period 1901‒2003. Major taxa studied Temperate and Euro‐Siberian tre...

We analyzed the Italian National Forest Inventory data set to evaluate the interdependence of forest productivity, tree species richness (used to indicate biodiversity), climate, and soil factors. We tested the hypotheses that the relationship between biodiversity and forest productivity is positive and significant for all forests in Italy and whet...

Climate warming and biotic stressors are expected to reduce tree radial growth and performance at short and long time scales. However, the impacts of different biotic stressors on performance throughout a tree’s life are largely understudied. Here we assessed the effects of a past nun moth (Lymantria dispar) outbreak and related defoliation on Scot...

Late spring frost plays a major role in the structure and function of forest ecosystems with potential consequences on species distribution at both local and regional scales. Paradoxically, in a warmer world the incidence and impact of frost is increasing because of earlier leaf unfolding and flowering as a response to warmer temperatures. In this...

The future trajectory of atmospheric CO2 concentration depends on the development of the terrestrial carbon sink, which in turn is influenced by forest dynamics under changing environmental conditions. An in‐depth understanding of model sensitivities and uncertainties in non‐steady‐state conditions is necessary for reliable and robust projections o...

The aim of the study was to analyze horseradish growth for developing a mathematical model to estimate the leaf area based on linear measurements of the leaf surface. Leaf area (LA), number, and morphometric characteristics of the leaves including lamina length (L) and width (W) were evaluated on two horseradish accessions (Cor and Mon) throughout...

Aim High‐elevation forest line or tree line is an ecological ecotone representing the upper elevation thermal limit for forest development. The current tree line position is the result of the past human activity interacting with climatic and topographic conditions. In this study, we investigate how climate, local topographic factors and anthropogen...

Key message A remote sensing-based approach was implemented to detect the effect of a late spring frost on beech forests in the Mediterranean mountain region. The analysis of spatio-temporal variability of frost effects on normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) highlighted the distribution of the canopy damage across the forest according to...

This study examined the hydrodynamic behaviour of European black poplar (Populus nigra L.) under coppice management in riparian areas with a multidisciplinary approach. An innovative procedure on the basis of the combination of plant allometric relations and hydrodynamic models was applied to assess drag forces and plant hydrodynamic bending as fun...

In this study, we investigated the role of climatic variability and atmospheric nitrogen deposition in driving long‐term tree growth in canopy beech trees along a geographic gradient in the montane belt of the Italian peninsula, from the Alps to the southern Apennines. We sampled dominant trees at different developmental stages (from young to matur...

Solid wood has a certain amount of resistance to fire exposure. Recently, there is also great interest in characterization of the thermal behaviour of treated wood due to increasing demand of such products within the perspective of sustainability of environment. The objective of this study was to evaluate and predict the thermal decomposition proce...

The objective of this work was to investigate color stability and chemical changes of thermo-treated artificially weathered and coated alder (Alnus cordata, Loisel.) samples. Specimens were thermo-treated at a temperature of 200 °C for 4 h and then coated with commercially manufactured finishes. A solar box test chamber was employed for weathering...

Changing climate represents the most important driver of change for mountain forests in the Mediterranean region, by affecting forests vitality and productivity. Increased intensity and frequency of temperature extremes such as late spring frost and heat waves represents the main driver affecting forest ecosystem structure and composition, with con...

How well modified wood products perform may be influenced by their chemical compositions. Wood extractives are nonstructural constituents, many with specific biological properties, which affect the color, fragrance, hygroscopicity, durability, and acoustic properties and the drying and adhesion processes of wood. However, incomplete information is...

Biochar is nowadays largely used as a soil amendment and is commercialized worldwide. However, in temperate agro-ecosystems the beneficial effect of biochar on crop productivity is limited, with several studies reporting negative crop responses. In this work, we studied the effect of 10 biochar and 9 not pyrogenic organic amendments (NPOA), using p...

Key message: Apical dominance ratio (ADR), reported as a suitable indicator for the growth and development ofAbies alba, is concurrently determined by morphological and functional plant traits. Structural equation modeling (SEM) proved here to be an effective multivariate technique to represent the contribution of different variables in explaining...