Fabio Orlandi

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of Perugia

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of various agronomic factors on plant growth and the accumulation of secondary metabolites with antioxidant properties. The three Mediterranean Officinal Wild Plants selected for this investigation were Silybum marianum, Achillea millefolium, and Trifolium pratense whose extracts, enriched in phen...

Extreme rainfalls caused by climate change are a growing worldwide threat to the urban environment. Nature-based solutions (NBS) employ soil and vegetation to manage and treat stormwater while ensuring extensive ecosystem services. In the last decades, these solutions, such as Rain Gardens, Green Roofs, Vegetated Swales, and Constructed Wetlands, h...

Mitigating the negative impacts of climate change in urban areas has recently become essential to improving citizens’ living conditions. Trees are one of the most effective ways to attenuate the Heat Island phenomenon in cities, and numerous projects have been carried out to calculate tree ecosystem services (ES) provisioning. Among these, the Cliv...

This study focuses on the possibility of using fruit tree species, from an urban area in central Italy, to evaluate their possible productive, ecosystem, and economic contribution. The realization of the food forest was conducted through the use of a web app that can evaluate the climatic and ecosystem performance of trees in the city. This simulat...

The benefits of green areas mostly depend on the trees’ dimension, which in the urban environment is not as predictable as it is in woodland. Growth models based on tree height and tree diameter at breast height have been largely employed to predict tree growth also in urbanised contexts. However, city environments differ from natural ones, and in...

Plants have always been able to adapt to climate change by reacting through various responses, mainly at the phenological level. The aim of this work is to investigate the behavior of specific tree species located in two phenological gardens in central Italy in relation to the temperature increases recorded in recent years. Specifically, four main...

The objective of this work was to investigate the potential ecosystem services of 16 fruit trees to plan and manage more efficiently “Urban Forest,” increasing also the resilience of cities to climate change. We evaluated the potential capacity of PM10 absorption, the storage of CO2 from the atmosphere, and the cooling of the environment through sh...

In the following paper, the possibility of using fruit tree species, including minor fruit trees, in an urban area of Perugia (Italy), was represented, considering their possible productive, ecosystem and economic contribution. The simulated food forest, created through the use of a web app, can be regarded as an "organic green area" in which diffe...

Hemp (Cannabis sativa) is a well-known crop with a great potential to produce fibers without being excessively water and nutrient demanding. Moreover, hemp can be considered a viable and sustainable alternative to reach a cleaner production in the garment industry. Accurate information on fiber traits will enhance the exploitation of hemp in textil...

To highlight the ecosystem value of trees in the urban environment an EU's funding instrument for the environment and climate action – LIFE Project – was undertaken involving four Mediterranean cities as study cases: Thessaloniki in Greece, Cascais in Portugal, and Perugia and Bologna in Italy. The methodology utilized to evaluate plant carbon stor...

Even if the sensitivity of vegetation phenology to climate change has been accepted on global and continental scales, the correlation between global warming and phenotypic variability shows a modulated answer depending on altitude, latitude, and the local seasonal thermal trend. To connect global patterns of change with local effects, we investigat...

Even if the sensitivity of vegetation phenology to climate change has been accepted on global and continental scales, the correlation between global warming and phenotypic variability shows a modulated answer depending on altitude, latitude and the local seasonal thermal trend. To connect global patterns 10 of change with local effects, we investig...

Plant phenology, through opportune observing and interpreting techniques can be useful to interpret the eventual plant vegetative and reproductive adaptation to climate changes. Some plants of Salix acutifolia Willd., S. smithiana Willd. and S. viminalis L. were considered in a phenological garden in central Italy for analysing their phenological g...

The conservation actions towards artworks holding a common patrimony for the community are of primary importance, but also those related to their "container" as museums, libraries or archives are to consider. Fungal spores and bacteria carried by air flows to the artwork surface can colonize it causing biodeterioration through physical and/or chemi...

According to projects and practices that the Italian botanists and ecologists are carrying out for bringing “more nature in the city”, new insights for a factual integration between ecological perspectives and more consolidated aesthetic and agronomic approaches to the sustainable planning and management of urban green areas are provided.

In order to estimate the impact of climate change on the phenological parameters and to compare them with the historical record, a decision support system (DSS) has been applied employing a Phenological Modelling Platform. Biological observations of two willow species (Salix acutifolia and smithiana Willd) in 3 gardens at different altitudes locate...

Research Highlights: This paper compares the thermal requirements in three different olive-growing areas in the Mediterranean region (Toledo, central Spain; Lecce, southeastern Italy; Chaal, central Tunisia). A statistical method using a partial least square regression for daily temperatures has been applied to study the chilling and heat requireme...

The effects of climate change on agricultural systems raise important uncertainties about the future productivity and suitability of crops, especially in areas suffering from intense environmental changes. Olive groves occupy Mediterranean areas characterized by seasonal temporary droughts, which cause this cultivation to be highly dependent on loc...

In southern Europe, the present stock of social housing is ventilated naturally, with practice varying in the different seasons of the year. In winter, windows are kept closed most of the day with the exception of short periods for ventilation, whereas the rest of the year the windows are almost permanently open. In cold weather, air changes depend...

Artefact conditions need to be continuously monitored to avoid degradation effects naturally caused by time and public exploitation in order to increase the value of cultural assets. In this way, the atmospheric analysis of both biological and chemical pollutants potentially present inside conservation environments represents valid support for the...

Hazelnut trees, were investigated in central Italy to study their biology and relationships with principal environmental variables. The cyclical repetition of seasonal development in plants may be sensitive to meteorological variation, making phenology of particular interest for studying the climate change effects on vegetative development using ne...

Core Ideas Solar radiation was the first greatest forcing variable for the sorghum flowering. Water table during summer and past fruit setting represented a limiting factor. Sorghum morphological development was deeply influenced by precipitation. Medium and long season sorghum varieties showed a yield homogeneity. Brenus and Marcus varieties manif...

RESUMEN In the Mediterranean basin, olive trees (Olea europea L.) are one of the most widespread tree crop species. These are adapted to the mild climate, as olive fruit and oil are among the oldest and most important products in this area. Flowering is a critical biological phase that can be highly influenced by weather conditions. The present stu...

Short rotation plantations of fast-growing tree species like poplar, willow, false acacia and eucalyptus need intensive cultivation practices to force biomass production. In the present study, the adaptability degree of two hybrid poplar clones (‘Monviso’, ‘AF8’) and their biomass production were evaluated in the particular context of the Rieti upl...

The physiological stress caused by particular pollution conditions can result in phenological phase shifts that can include a block in vegetative or reproductive development. The main aim of the present study was to determine and analyse the mean development trends of some winter deciduous species in comparison to the climate tendencies, as calcula...

The main objective of this research was to utilize pollen monitoring methodology to predict olive yields in three Mediterranean olive cultivation areas (Spain, Italy and Tunisia) and their relationships with the olive oil price dynamics. Moreover, olive yield and olive oil production compared with olive oil price trends in the last two decades was...

Edible wild plants have provided an important source of food since time immemorial and have continued to do so until the present day. The study aimed to evaluate ethnobotanical uses and nutraceutical properties of Tordylium apulum L. and Urospermum dalechampii (L.) F.W. Schmidt. The ethnobotanical data collected showed that knowledge of these two s...

The present study provides a meteorological and bioclimatic characterisation of three Mediterranean areas: Spain, Italy and Tunisia. This includes, on the one hand, an evaluation of the past climate using meteorological data collected from 1931 to 1994. On the other hand, the future climate characterisation has been constructed for each study area,...

The aim of this study was the elaboration and the spatio-temporal interpretation of Olea europea L. airborne pollen maps across the main olive cultivation areas within the Mediterranean basin (i.e. Tunisia, Spain, Italy). The study was performed using aerobiological databases recorded from 27 georeferenced study sites. Maps were elaborated for diff...

The fruits of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill., the most worldwide cultivated species of Cactaceae family, contain viable seeds (100-250) of large size. This characteristic influences the commercial quality of the fruit. The study of floral biology in Opuntia allows to understand the behaviour of the plant during reproductive phase and perhaps to di...

Statistical models based on temperature accumulation are used to estimate grapevine phenology (e.g. bud break, flowering) through summation of daily heat requirements calibrated from a base temperature and a given date. This study was designed to define the grapevine agro-phenological behaviour through analysis of potential trends of some principal...

The plant adaptation to climate trends appears as a main research field in the recent past. In the Mediterranean environment a 14-year (1997-2010) phenological study was realized inside a phenological garden to investigate the climate/ plant relationships. The average phenological data thus obtained provide a mean model of development for the diffe...

The aim of the present study was to develop pheno-meteorological models to explain and forecast the main olive flowering phenological phases within the Mediterranean basin, across a latitudinal and longitudinal gradient that includes Tunisia, Spain, and Italy. To analyze the aerobiological sampling points, study periods from 13 years (1999-2011) to...

Olive oil is a major economic resource of the Mediterranean region. Olive crop management can be improved by models that forecast the variable reproductive biology of olive tree. However, the processes controlling olive harvest are complex on large scales. Here, we study the parameters that influence olive fruit production for developing accurate f...

The study of microorganisms and biological particulate matter that transport passively through air is very important for an understanding of the real quality of air. Such monitoring is essential in several specific areas, such as public health, allergy studies, agronomy, indoor and outdoor conservation, and climate-change impact studies. Choosing t...

In the present study, the relationship between the temperature amount during the spring months and the period of maximum pollen emission across the main olive cultivation areas within the Mediterranean region (i.e. Tunisia, Spain, Italy) was studied. Aerobiological and meteorological databases recorded from 27 geo-referenced study sites were used....

Phenological investigations that adopt aerobiological monitoring methodologies are frequently used for species that rely on the wind for pollen grain dispersion, such as the olive in the Mediterranean basin. The present study of olive flowering dates was carried out in the Calabria region (southern Italy). These were calculated on the basis of a ph...

Olive oil is one of the main economic resources of the Mediterranean region. Early and effective crop forecasting is very important from the standpoint of environmental, economic and social development in a changing environment. The present study was designed to identify the main factors that influence olive fruit production in the Mediterranean re...

The uncontrolled sprawling of energy plants by renewable sources has conducted, together with important energy benefits, also relevant negative effects for the environment, such as (i) huge land occupation with low energy density per surface unit and (ii) problems on the social acceptance of the renewable plants. Significant discomfort has been cre...

En el presente trabajo se ha analizado y comparado el clima presente (periodo 1992-2011) con el clima de un escenario futuro (2046-2065), relacionándolo a su vez con el periodo de floración del olivo. El estudio fue llevado a cabo en las dos macroáreas olivareras más productivas del planeta: sur de España y centro-sur de Italia. En un hipotético es...

The main characteristics of the heat accumulation period and the possible existence of different types of biological response to the environment in different populations of olive through the Mediterranean region have been evaluated. Chilling curves to determine the start date of the heat accumulation period were constructed and evaluated. The resul...

The flowering characteristics of plant species of economic interest and the influence of climate on them are of great importance considering the implications for fruit setting and the final harvest: Olive is one of the typical species of the Mediterranean habitat. We have investigated the timing of olive full flowering during the anthesis period an...

The present study was carried out in a phenological garden in central Italy that contains vegetative clones of shrubs and trees common to several international phenological gardens, such as Cornus sanguinea L.; Corylus avellana L.; Ligustrum vulgare L.; Robinia pseudoacacia L.; Salix acutifolia Willd. and Sambucus nigra L. Vegetative plant growth m...

We considered here olive production according to the main relationships between the quantitative (fruit production) and qualitative (oil quality) data and the meteorological parameters through the annual season. We carried out pollen monitoring analyses over a 12-year period, to initially define the main dynamics of pollen release into the atmosphe...

Recent studies have shown that there are many effects of climate change on aeroallergens, and thus on allergic diseases in humans. In the Mediterranean region, despite the importance of the olive tree for production, there is high allergenicity of olive pollen and related risks to human health. Aerobiological sampling techniques can be used to anal...

The present study implemented a regional phenological model that was derived through the growing season index and adapted to a widespread Mediterranean species, the olive (Olea europaea L.). This model considers not only individual phenological events, but also the main vegetative and reproductive phenological phases of the species, in an integrate...

RESUMEN (ABSTRACT) La importancia de determinar los requerimientos de frío o " chilling units " (CU) en el olivo radica en su fuerte influencia sobre el correcto desarrollo de las yemas florales así como sobre diferentes caracteres reproductores tales como alteraciones en el pistilo y en el grano de polen. En este trabajo ha sido constatada la exis...

A simultaneous indoor and outdoor aerobiological monitoring was conducted to test the efficacy of a special pollen filter in impeding the entrance of aerobiological particles into living spaces and other structures marked by specific health needs. The efficacy levels of these membranes were tested through aerobiological monitoring carried out outdo...

In phenological studies, plant development and its relationship with meteorological conditions are considered in order to investigate the influence of climatic changes on the characteristics of many crop species. In this work, the impact of climate change on the flowering of the olive tree (Olea europaea L.) in Calabria, southern Italy, has been st...

In phenological studies, the plant developments are analysed considering their relationships with seasonal meteorological conditions; moreover, the influences of geographical features on biological responses have to be also considered. Different studies analysed the influence of latitude on phenological phases to investigate the possible different...

Recent research demonstrated that in olive, hermaphrodite and staminate flowers show a different starch content. The low RuBisCO activity and chlorophyll content suggested the secondary origin of this starch, so differences between these two kinds of flowers could be related to a different sink capability. To highlight the origin of starch and unde...

Several bioclimatic studies have been developed over recent years considering temperature trends and their influence on vegetative and reproductive phenomena during plant growth. In the applied aerobiology laboratory of Perugia University, various studies of olive (Olea europaea L.) flowering and its relationship with climatic variables have been c...

In the last few centuries phenological observations were commonly considered as useful and inexpensive 'plant-instruments' which respond to many meteorological and environmental factors. At first, phenological observations were carried out by volunteers interested in nature, while in the last century the first phenological networks were instituted...

Crop yield forecasting has progressed clearly in the past years, mainly due to the growing demand for modelling. In the present research, considering the Mediterranean vocation for the olive cultivation, olive yield forecasting modelling was analysed, to understand the principal relationships between olive tree production and climate features in a...

Airborne pollen concentration patterns reflect flowering phenology of a given species, and it may be a sensitive regional indicator in climate change studies. This paper presents the relationship between a strategic biological event, such as olive flowering, and the air temperature trend, registered over a large scale (1982–2007) in the Umbria regi...

The aim of this study was to investigate the main climatic and biological trends related to olive flowering in central-southern Italy compared to those in Andalusia, Spain. Results since 1982 were compared for the two long-series monitoring areas of Cordoba and Perugia, and since 1992-1999 for the short-series areas. The relationship between climat...

In olive (Olea europaea L.), the formation of functionally staminate flowers rather than fully functional hermaphrodites is one of the major factors limiting fruit set, as flowers with aborted pistils are incapable of producing fruit. Studies conducted on various angiosperm species have shown a correlation between flower abortion and starch content...

The aim of this research was to study the relationships between climatic trends in a Mediterranean region and the biological behaviour of the olive as a possible bio-indicator species for understanding plant adaptation to meteorological variations. Data from phenological observations are considered to be useful for understanding how plant species r...

Phenological observations of the anthesic phases of olive flowering in a central Mediterranean area were recorded over a 9-year period. The aim of this research was to compare the flowering dates in relationship to the meteorological changes. Pollen emission from anthers was monitored by remote instrumentation placed directly in olive groves and ph...

Olives are one of the largest crops in the Mediterranean and in central and southern Italy. This work investigates the correlation of the Olea europaea L. pollen season in Perugia, the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, with atmospheric parameters. The aim of the study is twofold. First, we study the correlation between the poll...

Historical collections held in ancient archives and libraries constitute a cultural and artistic heritage of inestimable value. These collections contain a series of organic materials which may alter and perish in time, especially if they are conserved in inadequate environmental conditions and without any specific precautionary devices to protect...

Phenology data are sensitive data to identify how plants are adapted to local climate and how they respond to climatic changes. Modeling flowering phenology allows us to identify the meteorological variables determining the reproductive cycle. Phenology of temperate of woody plants is assumed to be locally adapted to climate. Nevertheless, recent r...

This study concerns the flowering of the olive (Olea europaea) in a large southern Italian area. It was carried out using the “volumetric” method of pollen sampling and the analysis of the meteorological parameters of temperature and rainfall. The results show that flowering occurs mainly in May, with the maximum values in the second half of the mo...

Olives are one of the largest crops in the Mediterranean and in central and southern Italy. This work investigates the correlation of the Olea europaea L. pollen season in Perugia, the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, with atmospheric parameters. The aim of the study is twofold. First, we study the correlation between the poll...

Phenological stages are the result of biorhythms and environmental factors, these last are probably the same ones that caused, during evolution, adjustments of the species to different climate. The present study was carried out in a Phenological Garden located in central Italy (Perugia, Umbria Region) which contains indicator species, common to all...

Olive trees have a plentiful bloom but a low percentage of normal fruit set. To improve fruit set, numerous investigations have sought to identify the obstacles that prevent full production. In this work, flower development in five DOP Umbria cultivars (Leccino, Frantoio, Moraiolo, Dolce Agogia and San Felice) was studied throughout different devel...

The aim of this study was to analyse the statistical relationships among climatic variables and flowering dates for olive species (Olea europaea). Data were collected over 21 years (1982–2002) from the study area located in the province of Perugia, central Italy. Flowering was studied through the aerobiological method and daily pollen concentration...

In recent years, the relationship between flowering and fruit production was studied and evaluated in several wind-pollinated species. In olive (Olea europaea L.), the pollen-monitoring technique was introduced to determine pollen indexes as indicators of flowering, evaluating in some cases the predictive role of the variable. Recently, to investig...

This investigation was carried out to consider the role of the effective pollination period (EPP) in the reproductive process of a typical perennial plant species of the Mediterranean area, the olive (Olea europaea L.). The analyses utilized the relationships between yearly olive fruit production and daily pollen emissions recorded through aerobiol...

Aerobiological data of pollen emission concentrations is used to predict fruit production. The principal aim of this work was to study the relationship between pollen emission patterns, emission homogeneity and fruit production in olive ( Olea europaea L.). Data of daily pollen concentrations in the atmosphere during the flowering period, collected...

A statistical test is described to verify the characteristics of the biological information contained in the dynamics of the flowering process. The test focuses on interactions between the pollen index and climatic variables to investigate if the biological indicator can synthesise the information of the pre‐flowering phases. The multiple‐regressio...