Maurizio Ventura

Free University of Bozen-Bolzano | Unibolzano · Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences

The present study examined Pinus sylvestris L. growth responses to climatic variations and its relationship with intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) across a water availability gradient and also in pure P. sylvestris and P. sylvestris-Quercus species mixed forests. Study sites were selected in the Mediterranean, temperate, and temperate continent...

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has notably increased since the industrial revolution, doubling N inputs to terrestrial ecosystems. This could mitigate N limitations in forests, potentially enhancing productivity and carbon sequestration. However, excessive N can lead to forest N saturation, causing issues like soil acidification, nutrient imba...

As an essential nutrient, Nitrogen (N) availability is fundamental in evaluating forest productivity, and as such, understanding the effects of changing atmospheric N inputs in forest ecosystems is of high significance. While most field experiments have been employing ground fertilization as a method to simulate N deposition, two experimental fores...

Natural and human-induced environmental changes deeply affected terrestrial ecosystems throughout the Holocene. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions provide information about the past and allow us to predict/model future scenarios. Among potential records, peat bogs are widely used because they present a precise stratigraphy and act as natural archiv...

We investigated the changes in microbial community diversities and functions in natural downed wood at different decay stages in a natural oak forest in the Italian Alps, through metagenomics analysis and in vitro analysis. Alfa diversity of bacterial communities was affected by the decay stage and log characteristics, while beta diversity was main...

In the last decades, climate and human activities significantly affected ecosystems, particularly in mountain areas. Whereas the Alps have been extensively studied for palaeoclimatic reconstructions, little information is available about ecological changes, especially in the Southeastern Alps. This study presents a palaeoclimatic and palaeoecologic...

The work concerns the study of the hydrochar from digestate and hydrochar co-compost characterization as amendments. The processes for hydrochar and co-compost production were described in Part 1 of this work (Scrinzi et al., 2022). The amendment properties of hydrochar (produced at 180–200–220 °C for 3 h) and co-composts (25%, 50%, and 75% hydroch...

Biochar production and application as soil amendment is a promising carbon (C)-negative technology to increase soil C sequestration and mitigate climate change. However, there is a lack of knowledge about biochar degradation rate in soil and its effects on native soil organic carbon (SOC), mainly due to the absence of long-term experiments performe...

Biochar production and application as soil amendment is a promising carbon (C) negative technology to increase soil C sequestration and mitigate climate change. However, there is a lack of knowledge about biochar degradation rate in soil and its effects on native soil organic carbon (SOC), mainly due to the absence of long term experiments performe...

Biochar has been shown to improve soil quality and crop yields. Furthermore, thanks to its high carbon content (C) and stable chemical structure, biochar can sequester C in the soil for a long time, mitigating climate change. However, the variability in published biochar stability in the soil makes verifying this trait under different environmental...

On the mountains, along an elevation gradient, we generally observe an ample variation in temperature, with the associated difference in vegetation structure and composition and soil properties. With the aim of quantifying the relative importance of temperature, vegetation and edaphic properties on soil respiration (SR), we investigated changes in...

The atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased to unprecedented levels during last decades, raising concerns about their effect on climate change. Agriculture and land use change play an important role in atmospheric CO2 emission and fixation, especially by affecting the soil carbon (C) storage. In this context, agroforestry syst...

The amount of nitrogen (N) deposition onto forests has globally increased and is expected to double by 2050, mostly because of fertilizer production and fossil fuel burning. Several studies have already investigated the effects of N depositions in forest soils, highlighting negative consequences on plant biodiversity and the associated biota. Never...

To understand the main determinants of soil respiration (SR), we investigated the changes of soil respiration and soil physicochemical properties, including soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), root C and N, litter C and N, soil bulk densities and soil pH at five forest sites, along an elevation/temperature gradient (404 to 2101 m a.s.l) in Northern I...

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) depositions have increased sharply since the industrial revolution. Numerous authors forecasted severe impacts on forest ecosystem services and functioning when new N input exceeds both biotic and abiotic holding capacity, in what is known as the N saturation process. However, most of the studies performed so far to quantif...

Forests ability to store carbon is strongly connected with the amount of nitrogen (N) that forest ecosystems can retain; N is indeed considered the most limiting nutrient for terrestrial ecosystem's net primary productivity. Since the industrial revolution, human activities have more than doubled the rate of N input into the nitrogen cycle and this...

In Alto-Adige esistono una quarantina di impianti a gassificazione e pirolisi che ogni anno producono circa 1250 t di carbone vegetale. Quest'ultimo viene attualmente smal-tito come rifiuto, rappresentando un costo per i gestori. Se il carbone vegetale rispet-tasse determinati parametri di legge (G.U. 186 12.08.2015) potrebbe essere definito "bio-c...

Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration and nitrogen deposition are, among the global change related drivers, those playing a major role on forests carbon sequestration potential, affecting both their productivity and water-use efficiency. Up to now, results are however contrasting, showing that the processes underlying them are far from being ful...

The increasing importance of short rotation coppice (SRC) plantations for bioenergy production makes it crucial to evaluate their carbon (C) sink potential and to understand which sustainable practices could increase productivity and C sequestration. This study examined the combined effect of woody ash and nitrogen (N) fertilization on the producti...

Research Highlights: Biochar is the carbonaceous product of pyrolysis or the gasification of biomass that is used as soil amendment to improve soil fertility and increase soil carbon stock. Biochar has been shown to increase, decrease, or have no effect on the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) from soil, depending on the specific soil and biochar...

In the past decades, nitrogen (N) deposition has increased due to human activities, providing an extra input of N to terrestrial ecosystems. The consequences of this additional N input on forest ecosystems have been studied in fertilisation experiments, simulating N deposition by applying mineral N to the forest floor. This approach does not consid...

The present study assesses the stability of biochar, its effect on original soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition, and the interactions with plant roots over a 3-year period in a short rotation coppice plantation in Northern Italy. Biochar produced from gasification of maize silage (δ¹³C of biochar ≈ − 13.8‰) was applied into the soil of the plan...

While it has been recently recognized that freshwater ecosystems may significantly offset the terrestrial carbon sink through emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), empirical data on the magnitude of these sources are still scarce, in particular in temperate regions. In this study, we measured the near-surface dissolved concentrations...

Because of climate change, floods become every day a keener concern for population. Therefore, all measures to diminish and to thoroughly manage surface runoff are welcome. In crop systems, rainfall intercepted by crops is most of the times neglected when computing water balance, because this component is minimal compared to the amount reaching the...

Leaf litter and deadwood have important roles in the forest ecosystems, providing shelter for several organisms, preventing erosion and microclimate fluctuations. Their decomposition is a key process of biogeochemical cycles in forest. Microorganisms are the primary agents of decomposition. Particularly, fungi are considered the major contributors...

Key message Relative biomass of tree compartments is dependent on plant size and stand density, with stand density being an important predictor, especially for belowground biomass and at high stand densities. Abstract Estimation of biomass production is an important issue against the background of climate change and carbon storage. Even though man...

Positive effects of pyrochar on soil nutrient availability and plant growth are widely reported in literature. However, few studies have reported effects of hydrochars on plant nutrition. A pot trial was conducted over a period of 2 years to investigate the effect of a pyrochar (AGT) and a hydrochar (HTC) on poplar (Populus × generosa, clone AF8) g...

This paper aims to evaluate the suitability of the ECOSSE model to estimate soil heterotrophic respiration (Rh) from arable land and short rotation coppices of poplar and willow. Between 2011 and 2013, we measured Rh with automatic closed dynamic chambers on root exclusion plots at one site in the UK (willow, mixed commercial genotypes of Salix spp...

Key priorities in biochar research for future guidance of sustainable policy development have been identified by expert assessment within the COST Action TD1107. The current level of scientific understanding (LOSU) regarding the consequences of biochar application to soil were explored. Five broad thematic areas of biochar research were addressed:...

Knowledge about the stand structure and dynamics of subalpine forests is crucial to preserve their multifunctionality. In the present study, we reconstructed the spatio-temporal dynamics of a subalpine Pinus cembra forest in the eastern Italian Alps in response to natural disturbances and forest management. We adopted a concurrent point pattern, de...

Wide-scale application of biochar to soil has been suggested as a mechanism to offset increases in CO2 emissions through the long-term sequestration of a carbon rich and inert substance to the soil, but the implications of this for soil diversity and function remain to be determined. Biochar is capable of inducing changes in soil bacterial communit...

We performed a series of experiments in controlled conditions to assess the potential of hardwood-derived biochar either as a source or as a removing additive of macronutrients [nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), ammonium-N (NH4-N), potassium (K), phosphorus (P), and magnesium (Mg)] in solution. In addition, a 3-year field trial was carried out in a commerc...

Background Most current approaches in forest science and practice require information about structure and growth of individual trees rather than - or in addition to - sum and mean values of growth and yield at forest stand level as provided by classic experimental designs. By inventing the wheel design, Nelder provided the possibility to turn to th...

As studies on biochar stability in field conditions are very scarce, the carbon sequestration potential of biochar application to agricultural soils remains uncertain. The present study assessed the stability of biochar in field conditions, the effect of plant roots on biochar stability and the effect of biochar on original soil organic matter (SOM...

The main components of soil respiration (Rs) are plant roots (Rr), mycorrhizal fungi (Rmyc) and heterotrophic soil microorganisms degrading soil organic matter (Rhe). In the present study we combined a stable isotope technique with the measurements of soil respiration fluxes in an eight-year old apple orchard (Malus domestica Mill.; cv. Pink Lady;...

Land use competition between food/feed and energy crops could exclude the establishment of Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) plantations, as bioenergy woody crop, on productive agricultural land. A solution could be the cultivation of multipurpose plantations producing bio-mass and logs for industry, as an innovative alley coppice system. This is a mixt...

Biochar addition to soil has been suggested as a promising strategy to increase soil carbon storage with important side-effects on soil fertility and crop productivity. Understanding the effect of biochar on soil respiration partitioning into rhizosphere-derived (Fr) and soil organic carbon-derived (Fsoc) components and on plant root dynamics and m...

Nitrogen leaching in croplands is a worldwide problem with implications both on human health and on the environment. Efforts should be taken to increase nutrient use efficiency and minimize N losses from terrestrial to water ecosystems. Soil-applied biochar has been reported to increase soil fertility and decrease nutrient leaching in tropical soil...

Background and aims. Fruit orchards potential as carbon (C) sinks is virtually unknown. Moreover, despite their importance in the Mediterranean area, few data are available about the effect of the reduction in water availability on fruit tree productivity. Here we report the effect of two different irrigation regimes on net primary (NPP) and net ec...

Biochar is defined as charcoal produced by pyrolysis with the aim to apply it to the soil in order to improve its fertility and carbon (C) storage capacity. Biochar physical and chemical properties can vary depending on the original biomass feedstock and pyrolysis conditions. The potential agricultural benefits and CO2 carbon sequestration from the...

Agriculture has both direct and indirect effects on quality of surface water and is one of the key activities causing water quality degradation. Its environmental impact can be evaluated by the determination of indicators of the quality of water bodies that collect drainage and runoff waters from agricultural watersheds. For this research, the wate...

Sustainable management of mineral nutrition in vineyards, as well as in other fruit plantations, should aim at exploiting the use of internal sources of nutrients, in order to reduce the need for external nutrient inputs. In this paper we explore the potential of the grassed alleys to provide nutrients to the vines. We followed for one vegetative s...

The attention to the capacity of forest soils to store atmospheric CO2 has continued to increase during the recent years. Identifying the best forest management practices to sequester atmospheric carbon is a global priority in the framework of the climate change mitigation strategies. A new way of considering forest management is needed to conserve...

The presence in agroecosystems of plants able to develop symbiosis with nitrogen (N2) fixing microorganisms is encouraged as may decrease the need for mineral N fertilizers. Biological N2 fixation is widespread among Fabaceae, but legume species differ in their ability to develop symbiosis with N2 fixing microorganisms: for example, while this freq...

Modern agriculture requires both, attention to crop yield and quality and to environmental issues. Among farmers' practices, fertilization can play a pivotal role in alleviating environmental pressure without affecting the production. In this work we present the study of nutrients budget spanning six years of apple trees cultivation and we propose...

The decomposition of plant residues has a pivotal role in carbon and nutrient cycles in agricultural ecosystems, where it can contribute to the sustainable management of the crops. In this paper we report a study on the release of C and nutrients during the decomposition of peach abscised leaves in northern Italy. Litter bags containing a represent...

We identified the role of various soil parameters and root density as drivers of soil respiration (Rs) in an apple orchard, measured during different periods of the year and at a range of distances from trees, in plots with a different history of nutrient supply. Rs was measured in April, May, August and December and studied in relation to soil tem...

Rhizodeposition plays an important role in nitrogen (N) cycling within ecosystems, but it is understudied in agroecosystems, especially in orchards. In this study, we quantified N flux from peach root to soil in two soils with different texture. Seedlings were grown for 1 year in sand and fertilized with 15N-enriched ammonium nitrate. Trees were th...

Sustainable agriculture requires assessments of nitrogen fluxes and monitoring of potential nitrate losses. Watershed studies are particularly valuable to calculate nitrogen balances and quantify the relative importance of different sources of inputs and outputs. A nitrogen balance was calculated from September 2004 to October 2006 in an agricultur...

The feeding preference of the collembolan Protaphorura armata in the presence of Fusarium culmorum and Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, two soil-borne fungi pathogenic for winter cereals, was studied in a simplified experimental system including wheat seedlings. Analysis of gut content of all animals from microcosms containing inoculum of both...