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Gianluca Piovesan is professor at the University of Tuscia, Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences (DEB), Viterbo (Italy) where he directs the DendrologyLab and Landscape Ecological Forest Planning Lab.
I focus on: forest ecology and management, ecological landscape planning, Unesco World Heritage natural sites, protected areas, biodiversity, tree longevity, nature conservation, old-growth forests, masting, restoration ecology, impacts of climate change at multiple spatial and temporal scales, historical ecology, paleoecology, natural capital, ecosystem services, rewilding, sustainability, well-being, science communication.
Contacts - Email: piovesan@unitus.it Phone: +39 0761357387; Cell: +39 3804399787 Skype: gianluca.piovesan
Twitter: @Dendrocene
Courses taught
Courses taught
Teacher of the following courses at University of Tuscia (DEB and DAFNE):
Global changes and rewilding
Forest Ecology and Management
Dendroecology
Ecological Planning of Forest Landscape
Last papers
Last papers
Chiti, E, Piovesan G., in press. Reclaiming strict protection via the European Green Deal. Front Ecol Environ doi:10.1002/fee.70011
Solano, F., Mansi, C., Baliva, M., Canestrelli, D., Chiarucci, A., Manicone, R., ... & Piovesan, G. (2025). Mediterranean strictly protected forests are cooler. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 375, 110858.
Cerini, F., Chiatante, G., Chiocchio, A., Mazza, V., Piovesan, G., Chiarucci, A., ... & Canestrelli, D. (2025). Are we zoning out? Biases in the assessment of protected areas zoning and a blueprint for a way forward. One Earth, in press
Hernández‐Alonso, H., Olano, J. M., Houdas, H., Piovesan, G., Alla, A. Q., Domingo, D., ... & Sangüesa‐Barreda, G. (2025). Large‐scale atmospheric variability entails differential modes of seasonal tree growth in the Mediterranean Basin. Journal of Ecology, in press
Palli, J., Fiolna, S., Bini, M., Cappella, F., Izdebski, A., Masi, A., ... & Zanchetta, G. (2025). The human-driven ecological success of olive trees over the last 3700 years in the Central Mediterranean. Quaternary Science Reviews, 356, 109313.
Bini, M., Caroti, A., Cantini, F., Fabiani, F., Fiorentini, M., Fornaciari, A., ... & Zanchetta, G. (2025). The Paleo‐Serchio River: history of floods between Lucca and Pisa during the Roman period. Journal of Quaternary Science, 40(1), 141-152.
Keith, H., Kun, Z., Hugh, S., Svoboda, M., Mikoláš, M., Adam, D., ... & Mackey, B. (2024). Carbon carrying capacity in primary forests shows potential for mitigation achieving the European Green Deal 2030 target. Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1), 256.
Palli, J., Monaco, L., Bini, M., Cosma, E., Giaccio, B., Izdebski, A., ... & Zanchetta, G. (2024). The recent evolution of the salt marsh ‘Pantano Grande’(NE Sicily, Italy): interplay between natural and human activity over the last 3700 years. Journal of Quaternary Science, 39(2), 327-339.
Solano, F., Praticò, S., Messina, G., De Luca, G., Piovesan, G., & Modica, G. (2024, June). Digital Canopies: Evaluating the Impact of Different LiDAR-Derived CHMs for Old-Growth Forest Mapping and Monitoring. In International Mid-Term Conference of the Italian Association of Agricultural Engineering (pp. 1064-1072). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Gatti, R. C., Iaria, J., Moretti, G., Amendola, V., Cassola, F. M., Cerretti, P., ... & Chiarucci, A. (2024). EU2030 biodiversity strategy: Unveiling gaps in the coverage of ecoregions and threatened species within the strictly protected areas of Italy. Journal for Nature Conservation, 79, 126621.
Baliva, M., Palli, J., Perri, F., Iovino, F., Luzzi, G., & Piovesan, G. (2024). The return of tall forests: Reconstructing the canopy resilience of an extensively harvested primary forest in Mediterranean mountains. Science of The Total Environment, 175806. La Repubblica
Piovesan, G. (2024). Book review. Ancient Woods, Trees and Forests: Ecology, History and Management. Edited by Alper H. Çolak, Simay Kirca, and Ian D. Rotherham. London, (UK): Pelagic Publishing. THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY, volume 99, 58-59.
Mikolāš, M., Piovesan, G., Ahlström, A., Donato, D. C., Gloor, R., Hofmeister, J., ... & Kuemmerle, T. (2023). Protect old-growth forests in Europe now. Science, 380 (6644), 466-466.
Chiti, E., & Piovesan, G. (2023). Il giudice, la faggeta e la tutela delle foreste vetuste. LE ISTITUZIONI DEL FEDERALISMO, 399-416.
Cazzolla Gatti, R., Zannini, P., Piovesan, G., Alessi, N., Basset, A., Beierkuhnlein, C., ... & Chiarucci, A. (2023). Analysing the distribution of strictly protected areas toward the EU2030 target. Biodiversity and Conservation, 1-18.
Filibeck, G., Baliva, M., Calcagnile, L., Chiarucci, A., D'Elia, M., Quarta, G., Quilghini, G., Piovesan, G. (2023). Rediscovering Montecristo’s treasure: the island’s holm oaks reveal exceptional longevity. Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4064 La Repubblica
Filibeck, G., Baliva, M., Calcagnile, L., Chiarucci, A., D'Elia, M., Quarta, G., Quilghini, G., Piovesan, G. (2023). The Real “Treasure” of Montecristo Island: The Oldest Dated Holm Oaks in the Mediterranean. The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, e2094
Piovesan, G., Rita, A., Biondi, F., Baliva, M., Borghetti, M., Brunetti, M., ... & Vendramin, G. G. (2023). Bell-shaped tree-ring responses to air temperature drive productivity trends in long-lived mountain Mediterranean pines. Science of The Total Environment, 890: 164103.
Biondi, F., Meko, D. M., & Piovesan, G. (2023). Maximum tree lifespans derived from public-domain dendrochronological data. iScience. 26, 106138
Jordan Palli, Scott A. Mensing, Edward M. Schoolman, Francesco Solano, Gianluca Piovesan (2023). Rewilding is Restoring Mediterranean Mountain Forest Ecosystems. The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. DOI: 10.1002/bes2.2034
Gianluca Piovesan, Charles H. Cannon, Jiajia Liu, Sergi Munné-Bosch (2022). Ancient trees: irreplaceable conservation resource for ecosystem restoration. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2022; DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.09.003 The Guardian, Independent, Our Narratives
Palli J, Mensing SA, Schoolman EM, Solano F, Piovesan G. (2022) Historical ecology identifies long-term rewilding strategy for conserving Mediterranean mountain forests in south Italy. Ecol Appl. 2022 Oct 4:e2758. DOI: 10.1002/eap.2758.
Charles H. Cannon, Gianluca Piovesan, Sergi Munné-Bosch (2022). Old and ancient trees are life history lottery winners and vital evolutionary resources for long-term adaptive capacity. Nature Plants, DOI: 10.1038/s41477-021-01088-5. Science News, EurekAlert!, C3
Solano, F., Modica, G., Praticò, S., Box, O. F., & Piovesan, G. (2022). Unveiling the complex canopy spatial structure of a Mediterranean old-growth beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forest from UAV observations. Ecological Indicators, 138, 108807. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108807
Palli, J., Cagnetti, C., Emanuel, C., Ferrari, S., Filibeck, G., Forte, T. A. G. W., ... & Piovesan, G. (2022). The environmental dimension of ecotourism in Italian protected areas: a comparison of two bio-geographical regions based on the assessment of accredited hiking guides. Journal of Ecotourism, 1-23.
Zannini P., et al. , A. (2022). Investigating sacred natural sites and protected areas for forest area changes in Italy. Conservation Science and Practice, e12695.
Izdebski, A., Bauch, M., Guzowski, P., Mensing, S., Mercuri, A. M., Newfield, T., ... & Masi, A. (2022). Reply to ‘Reduction in grain pollen indicates population decline, but not necessarily Black Death mortality’. Nature ecology & evolution, 1-2.
Adam et al. (2022). Palaeoecological data indicates land-use changes across Europe linked to spatial heterogeneity in mortality during the Black Death pandemic. Nature Ecology and Evolution, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01652-4. NY Times, Nature
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Gianluca Piovesan, Alessandro Chiarucci (2021). Italy: Forest harvesting is not green growth. Nature 595, 353.
Gianluca Piovesan and Franco Biondi (2021). On tree longevity. Tansley Review, New Phytologist, 231(4), pp. 1318–1337 . DOI: 10.1111/nph.17148. Phys.org, Plantae, NevadaToday, Scientific American
Solano, F., Praticò, S., Piovesan, G., & Modica, G. (2021). Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Derived Canopy Gaps in the Old-Growth Beech Forest of Mount Pollinello (Italy): Preliminary Results. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 2021, 12955 LNCS, pp. 126–138 . Springer, Cham.
Colangelo, M., Camarero, J. J., Gazol, A., Piovesan, G., Borghetti, M., Baliva, M., ... & Ripullone, F. (2021). Mediterranean old-growth forests exhibit resistance to climate warming. Science of The Total Environment, 801, 149684. La Repubblica, Huffpost
Solano, F., Praticò, S., Piovesan, G., Chiarucci, A., Argentieri, A., & Modica, G. (2021). Characterising historical transformation trajectories of the forest landscape in Rome's Metropolitan area (Italy) for effective planning of sustainability goals. Land Degradation & Development, 32(16), pp. 4708–4726.
Brusco, A., Marchianò, R., Giglio, G., Piovesan, G., & Sperone, E. (2021). Eat until bursting: an unusual feeding attempt by a European Asp, Vipera aspis (Linnaeus, 1758), on a Western Green Lizard, Lacerta bilineata Daudin, 1802, in Calabria (Southern Italy). Herpetology Notes, 14, 563-565.
Sangüesa-Barreda, G., Di Filippo, A., Piovesan, G., Rozas, V., Di Fiore, L., García-Hidalgo, M., García-Cervigón, A. I., ... & Olano, J. M. (2021). Warmer springs have increased the frequency and extension of late-frost defoliations in southern European beech forests. Science of The Total Environment, 775, 145860.
Poponi, S., J. Palli, S. Ferrari, G. Filibeck, T. G. W. Forte, C. Franceschini, A. Ruggieri and G. Piovesan. (2020). Toward the development of sustainable ecotourism in Italian national parks of the Apennines: insights from hiking guides. Ecology and Society 25 (4):46. [online] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-11996-250446 . Phys.org
Piovesan, G., Baliva, M., Calcagnile, L., D’Elia, M., Dorado-Liñán, I., Palli, J., ... & Quarta, G. (2021). In the Mediterranean Mountains, Some Sessile Oaks Can Live for a Millennium. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 102(1), 1-6.
Gianluca Piovesan, Michele Baliva, Lucio Calcagnile, Marisa D’Elia, Isabel Dorado-Liñán, Jordan Palli, Antonino Siclari, Gianluca Quarta (2020). Radiocarbon dating of Aspromonte sessile oaks reveals the oldest dated temperate flowering tree in the world. Ecology, 101(12), e03179. DOI:10.1002/ecy.3179. Esa blog, Phys.org, The Times
Brienen Roel et al. (2020). Forest carbon sink neutralized by pervasive growth-lifespan trade-offs. Nature Communications 11, Article number: 4241. DOI: 0.1038/s41467-020-17966-z
Chiara Lelli, Juri Nascimbene, Davide Alberti, Nevio Agostini, Antonio Zoccola, Gianluca Piovesan, Alessandro Chiarucci (2020). Long term changes in Italian mountain forests detected by resurvey of historical vegetation data. Journal of Vegetation Science, 32(1), e12939. DOI: 10.1111/jvs.12939
Mensing, S., Schoolman, E.M., Palli, J. & Piovesan, G. (2020). A consilience-driven approach to land use history in relation to reconstructing forest land use legacies. Landscape Ecol. (2020). DOI: 10.1007/s10980-020-01079-5 , Shared link, Phys.org
Sangüesa-Barreda, G., Esper, J., Büntgen, U., Camarero, J.J., Di Filippo, A., Baliva, M. & Piovesan, G. (2020). Climate-human interactions contributed to historical forest recruitment dynamics in Mediterranean subalpine ecosystems. Global Change Biology, 26(9), pp. 4988–4997. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15246. DCYT, Phys.org, la Repubblica
Alessandro Chiarucci & Gianluca Piovesan (2020). Need for a global map of forest naturalness for a sustainable future. Conservation Biology, 34 (2), 368-372 . Phys,org, Technology, Il punto quotidiano, Adnkronos, TUTTOGREEN - La Stampa, Quoted Business
Gianluca Piovesan, (2019) A light‐demanding pine spreads into a closed forest. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Ecopics, DOI:10.1002/fee.2109. ESA twitter
Gianluca Piovesan, Franco Biondi, Michele Baliva, Giuseppe De Vivo, Vittoria Marchiano, Aldo Schettino, Alfredo Di Filippo, (2019). Lessons from the wild: slow but increasing long-term growth allows for maximum longevity in European beech, Ecology, Volume100, Issue9, e02737, ESA Blog, Ecology Twitter, Press release, Corriere della sera, le Scienze, Corriere della Calabria, Non Sprecare, Touring Club Italiano
The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America (2019): Slow Growth Leads to Longevity in Temperate Hardwoods, Bull Ecol Soc Am 100(3):e01560. https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.1560
Gianluca Quarta, Alfredo Di Filippo, Lucio Calcagnile, Marisa D’Elia, Franco Biondi, Emanuele Presutti Saba, Michele Baliva, Giuseppe De Vivo, Aldo Schettino, Gianluca Piovesan (2019) IDENTIFYING THE 993–994 CE MIYAKE EVENT IN THE OLDEST DATED LIVING TREE IN EUROPE. Radiocarbon, 61(5), 1317-1325. TG3 Leonardo
Gianluca Piovesan, Franco Biondi, Michele Baliva, Anna Dinella, Luca Di Fiore, Vittoria Marchiano, Emanuele Presutti Saba, Giuseppe De Vivo, Aldo Schettino, Alfredo Di Filippo (2019). Tree growth patterns associated with extreme longevity: implications for the ecology and conservation of primeval trees in Mediterranean mountains (click Share Link). Anthropocene, 26, June 2019, 100199. Press release; Comunicato stampa; La Repubblica, NewTuscia,
Archer, C., Noble, P., Rosen, M. R., Sagnotti, L., Florindo, F., Mensing, S., Piovesan, G and Michetti, A. M. (2019). Lakes as paleoseismic records in a seismically-active, low-relief area (Rieti Basin, central Italy). Quaternary Science Reviews, 211, 186-207.
Dorado‐Liñán I., Piovesan G., et al. (2019) Geographical adaptation prevails over species‐specific determinism in trees’ vulnerability to climate change at Mediterranean rear‐edge forests. Global change biology 25 (4), 1296-1314 .
Edward M. Schoolman, Scott Mensing, and Gianluca Piovesan (2018). Land Use and the Human Impact on the Environment in Medieval Italy. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 419–444
G. Piovesan, F. Biondi, M. Baliva, E. Presutti Saba, L. Calcagnile, G. Quarta, M. D’Elia, G. De Vivo, A. Schettino, A. DiFilippo (2018). The oldest dated tree of Europe lives in the wild Pollino massif: Italus, a strip-bark Heldreich’s pine. Ecology, Volume 99, Issue 7, 1682-1684
G. Piovesan, F. Biondi, M. Baliva, L. Calcagnile, G. Quarta, A. Di Filippo (2018) Dating old hollow trees by applying a multistep tree-ring and radiocarbon procedure to trunk and exposed roots. MethodsX, 5, 495-502
Piovesan, G. & Lüttge, U. (2018) Tree growth dynamics during early ontogenetic stages in closed forests. Trees, Volume 32, Issue 3, pp 671–673
Mensing, Scott A., Schoolman, Edward M., Tunno, Irene, Noble, Paula J., Sagnotti, Leonardo, Florindo, Fabio, Piovesan, Gianluca (2018) Historical ecology reveals landscape transformation coincident with cultural development in central Italy since the Roman Period. Scientific Reports, 2138, 8, 1 NEVADA Today. The messy history of pristine landscapes
Piovesan Gianluca, Mercuri Anna Maria, Mensing A. Scott (2018) The potential of paleoecology for functional forest restoration planning: lessons from Late Holocene Italian pollen records. Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology, 152 (3), 508-514
A new method for assessing the age of old-growth forests. In this post, Associate Editor Nathalie Butt discusses a recent paper ‘Tree-ring based metrics for assessing the functional naturalness of forests‘ by Alfredo Di Filippo, Franco Biondi, Gianluca Piovesan and Emanuele Ziaco (2017) Tree ring‐based metrics for assessing old‐growth forest naturalness. Journal of Applied Ecology, 54(3): 737-749.
Journal Covers
Journal Covers
The Scientific Naturalist (Ecology) trilogy of the oldest trees in Europe
The Scientific Naturalist (Ecology) trilogy of the oldest trees in Europe
Quercus petraea, 934 ± 65 yr
Aspromonte National Park
Recent Projects
Recent Projects
Combining Historic and Ecologic Archives to Understand Past Environmental Change, NSF Award
ITALIAN MOUNTAIN LAB - Research and Innovation for the Mountain environment and territories
Dafne-Unitus, Department excellence project 2017 - WP1: Nature, Forests and Sustainable Management of Agro-Silvo-Pastoral systems. Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (web site coming soon).
VITERBO DECLARATION - On safeguarding functional beech forest ecosystems
Forest Conservation - Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe - Unesco World Heritage site. Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park ---- Forest beat -
Historical-ecological aspect of sustainability - Understanding Human Responses to Environmental Change Using a 2,500-Year Reconstruction of Paleoecologic and Socioeconomic History - NSF Award
Last Congresses and Worshops
Last Congresses and Worshops
Pisa 29th-30th May 2024
THE FOREST FACTOR
THE FOREST FACTOR
06/06/2023 - 07/06/2023
06/06/2023 - 07/06/2023
Aula Magna Department of Architecture at Roma Tre University
Aula Magna Department of Architecture at Roma Tre University
Largo Giovanni Battista Marzi n° 10 - 00153 Rome (RM)
In presence, online
Nature in Mind Centro Congressi Palazzo Rospigliosi
Roma 19/05/2022 20/05/2022
Bridging the gap: un ponte tra biologia della conservazione e società
Primo convegno del Chapter Italiano della Society for Conservation Biology
5 e 6 Maggio 2022,
Museo Darwin Dohrn – Stazione Zoologia Anton Dohrn (Napoli)
Extended 44th session of the World Heritage Committee,
Bosnia and Herzegovina / Czechia / France / Italy / Montenegro / North Macedonia / Poland / Serbia / Slovakia / Switzerland, Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe [extension of “Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe”, inscribed in 2007, extensions in 2011 and 2017]
Faggete vetuste: Valle Infernale (Aspromonte), Pollinello, Sfilzi (Gargano)
Visita alla faggeta di Monte Raschio patrimonio UNESCO dal 2017
Ambiente e futuro: dai cambiamenti climatici all’economia circolare
L’impatto dell’illegal logging sulla conservazione delle specie in via d’estinzione , Parlamentino delle foreste, CUFA, Roma, 15 maggio 2019, Arca di Noè, puntata del 23 giugno 2019
L’impatto dell’illegal logging sulla conservazione delle specie in via d’estinzione , Parlamentino delle foreste, CUFA, Roma, 15 maggio 2019, Arca di Noè, puntata del 23 giugno 2019
La salvaguardia della biodiversità è una delle grandi sfide che l’umanità si troverà a fronteggiare nei prossimi decenni. Da qui alla fine del secolo le perdite di biodiversità saranno enormi - si stima la scomparsa del 50% delle specie del Pianeta.
La salvaguardia della biodiversità è una delle grandi sfide che l’umanità si troverà a fronteggiare nei prossimi decenni. Da qui alla fine del secolo le perdite di biodiversità saranno enormi - si stima la scomparsa del 50% delle specie del Pianeta.
“Metà della Terra agli umani e metà della Terra al resto della vita”, è la proposta di Edward O. Wilson, che richiede un nuovo patto tra uomo e natura a tutela della persistenza della vita sul Pianeta.
“Metà della Terra agli umani e metà della Terra al resto della vita”, è la proposta di Edward O. Wilson, che richiede un nuovo patto tra uomo e natura a tutela della persistenza della vita sul Pianeta.
Si discuterà della possibile applicazione del concetto di “Metà del Pianeta” in una tavola rotonda organizzata dall’Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna nell’ambito dell’ISA Topic 2018 “Game of Fears”. Lancio dell'iniziativa su La Repubblica
Si discuterà della possibile applicazione del concetto di “Metà del Pianeta” in una tavola rotonda organizzata dall’Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna nell’ambito dell’ISA Topic 2018 “Game of Fears”. Lancio dell'iniziativa su La Repubblica
Scientific Communications
Scientific Communications
Faggete vetuste Unesco, Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe
VIDEO
Mediterraneo RAI3 - Monumenti Verdi
Superquark - Il tesoro dell'isola di Montecristo (7 luglio 2022)
Canale 5 - ITALIA CAMPIONE D'EUROPA, GLI ALBERI MONUMENTALI (Ambiente Giovani, 29 dicembre 2021)
Canale 5 - Foreste Italiane patrimonio dell'umanità (Ambiente Giovani, 6 ottobre 2021)
TG2 Sorie - Censimento secolare (puntata del 1 maggio 2021 dal minituo 35)
Raiplay - Immersi nelle Foreste vetuste tra le radici del futuro - Notte Europea dei ricercatori
Mille Anni in foresta, Nautilus, Rai Scuola
RADIO
Radio 3 Scienza, Il Valore dell'Ambiente , l'Italia brucia -- RadioRai, Vaghi boschetti di soavi allori, Tutta la Città ne Parla: Gli alberi, il tempo -
STAMPA
Apollinea, maggio-giugno 2019, Negli anelli del pino loricato del Pollino la storia dei cambiamenti climatici dell'antropocene,
LE ANTICHE FORESTE E LA RINATURALIZZAZIONE (REWILDING) ALLA BASE DELLO SVILUPPO SOSTENIBILE - Crinali
Alberi, le regole per vivere mille anni, Italus: l'albero più vecchio d'Europa - La Repubblica ---- I cacciatori di foreste vergini RLab
Corriere Sera: Gli alberi più vecchi sono quelli che vivono in condizioni più dure - L'eleganza del faggio (TCI)
La Repubblica A Villa Borghese, il museo degli antichi platani -- Global Forest Watch: Una banca dati libera e gratuita la coscienza ecologica riparte da qui
Conservation messanging
Conservation messanging
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