This part of the project is dedicated to characterizing the responses of grassland and forest ecosystems distributed across the Italian peninsula to climate change. Meteorological drought events were identified using the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), which integrates monthly precipitation with minimum and maximum air temperatures.

Time-series analyses focused on assessing the magnitude and direction of changes in standardized NDVI anomalies and on evaluating their relationship with identified drought events. Five sites considered in this study are described below.

Tesino (primary site)

The Tesino site is located at Passo Brocon (TN), in the eastern Alps, at an elevation ranging from 1500 to 1850 m a.s.l. Forest stands are dominated by Picea abies.

Grasslands are characterized by the presence of subalpine species and are maintained through alpeggio practices, i.e. the seasonal grazing of cattle during the summer months.

Chianocco (secondary site)

The Chianocco site is located in western alps and is characterized by similar topographic terrain and climate features to Tesino site. The sample points at the Chianocco site are distributed along an altitudinal gradient from 1240 to 2028 meters above sea level. It is a mixture of managed and unmanaged grassland, Fagus silvatica and Pinus sylvestris dominate the forest stands.

San Rossore (primary site)

The San Rossore site (0-5 m of elevation) is located in the Tuscany region in central Italy and is part of the Migliarino San Rossore Massaciuccoli Regional Park. Here, natural and anthropogenically influenced ecosystems form a heterogeneous landscape mosaic.

In this analysis, we considered both managed and unmanaged grasslands, as well as forest ecosystems represented by conifer plantations and by forests dominated by locally potential deciduous species that have developed through rewilding processes following grassland abandonment.

San Venanzo (primary site)

The San Venanzo study site is located in a mid-altitudinal belt (from 303 to 847 m a.s.l.) in the Umbria region of central Italy. Here, mesic and xeric grasslands are formed and maintained through controlled grazing by cattle and sheep.

The local potential vegetation is dominated by oak forests, while patches of coniferous forests (mostly Pinus nigra) are also present and were analyzed separately.

Sila (secondary site)

The Sila site is part of the Sila National Park and is located in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Sampling points at the Sila site are distributed across an elevation range of 900 to 1600 m a.s.l.

In this area, grassland ecosystems are used for grazing by cattle and sheep. At higher elevations and along mountain slopes, beech forests dominate the deciduous vegetation, while coniferous forests are mainly represented by pine-dominated plantations (Pinus nigra).

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