Plant Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning
Research activities concentrate on specific subject areas in plant biodiversity to better understand how interactions with environmental factors shape biological variation. This involves studying dynamics, phylogenetic and biogeographical processes at the population and higher organizational levels as well as floristic inventories of vascular plants. Particular attention is provided to the effect of biological diversity on ecosystem functioning (also from the point of view of how ecosystem services support human well-being) and productivity. This topic is important to improve a mechanistic understanding of ecological patterns and processes, from the organismic to the landscape/regional scale. The gap between population and ecosystem ecology is now narrowing substantially, and the linked nature of human alterations to biological diversity and ecosystem functioning is increasingly appreciated and requested. These developments have renewed interest in the connections between diversity and many aspects of ecosystem function.
Important research efforts are oriented toward linking forest ecology with new approaches to sustainable forest management and establishing the role of the complexity of plant interactions (e.g., combinations of plants) and functional traits (above and belowground) in characterizing and discriminating the most advanced and preserved phases of forest ecosystems (old growth) and their ecosystem services.
Keywords - ENGLISH
forest ecosystems; compositional diversity; fine-scale approach; forest management; understory plants; plant functional traits
Active participants in the research line (PI last author or *)
Stefano Chelli; Roberto Canullo; Marco Cervellini; James Lee Tsakalos; Zhengxue Zhu; Maura Francioni, Nicola Postiglione; Luciano Ludovico De Benedictis; Giandiego Campetella
External Collaborations
Prof. Sandor Bartha, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary;
Prof. Camilla Wellstein, University of Bozen, Facoltà di Scienze agrarie, ambientali e alimentari, piazza Università, 5 39100 Bolzano.
Prof. Ladislav Mucina, Centre for Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.
Prof. Carlos Perez Carmona, University of Tartu, Estonia.
Dr. Gianluigi Ottaviani, National Research Council (CNR) - Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET), Italy.
Pillar
Environmental Sustainability
Macroareas in Environmental Sustainability
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function
Relevant research grants (national/international) funding specifically this Research Line
MultiForDiv project (MUR, PRIN 2022, n. 2022A42HL4) financed by the European Union - Next Generation EU", P.I. Dr. Stefano Chelli
FORENDEMICS project (MUR, PRIN 2022) - Forest endemic plants in changing forests: diversity, traits and responses, P.I. Unicam Prof. Roberto Canullo;
Progetto “FagusVetus” - Analisi delle relazioni tra struttura e biodiversità vegetale delle foreste vetuste del Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e Campigna, Finanziato dal Parco delle Foreste Casentinesi. P.I. Prof. Canullo
Progetto “MIMTB” Monitoraggio Integrato Multi Taxon Biodiversità, Bando a Cascata PNRR per la selezione di proposte progettuali, finalizzate al monitoraggio, preservazione, valorizzazione e ripristino della Biodiversità in aree protette, da finanziare nell’ambito del programma di ricerca del centro nazionale della biodiversità “national biodiversity future center (nbfc).
2005-2008 “Structure and dynamics of biodiversity on beech coppices”, Interterritorial cooperative agreement “Landscape and environmental laboratory” (LEADER+).
Email Address
giandiego.campetella@unicam.it
Link to Relevant Publications