The research group of Miris Castello and Alfredo Altobelli conducts experimental research in the field of ecology and conservation biology, including analyses, monitoring, conservation and management of ecosystems and plant and animal populations, monitoring of alien species, analyses of land use and land cover dynamics.
Biodiversity is threatened by many processes, including habitat loss, global climate changes, invasive alien species, diseases, over-exploitation. However, species and habitats of conservation interest may be also threatened by abandonment of land management and traditional agricultural and grazing practices. Modern approaches to biodiversity conservation are strongly based on in-situ strategies of conservation of species in their natural habitats; in Europe, conservation of natural habitats and threatened species is a priority, recognized also by international law.
The research program of the group strongly focuses on the vegetation component of ecosystems, as vegetation represents the key element to identify and analyse habitats, to assess their conservation status, to study spatial patterns and ecological processes at landscape scale, to provide fundamental information for land-use planning and management.
Research activities are based on field work and advanced GIS methods and remote sensing
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) represent a considerable change in environmental data management, as they connect territorial information to different databases, allowing for the “integration” of the territory, adding and producing new information. The use of remote sensing tools, either aerial or based on satellite, multi and hyper spectral, permits the gathering of many kinds of territorial information and the investigation of aspects that are difficult to monitor. The effectiveness of GIS is optimized by the combination of GIS and statistical analysis and in particular by the application of multivariate methods. In this case GIS is not an isolated technology but part of integrated methodology of analysis. Multivariate analysis renders legible and decipherable amounts of data sets which are difficult to understand at a glance.
In this context vegetation mapping is an important tool for natural resources management and land use planning, since vegetation acts as a base for all living organisms, and plays an essential role in global dynamics.
The research activities of the Applied Ecology & Remote Sensing group are organized in two main lines:
- plant ecology and conservation (ref. M. Castello; email: castello@units.it)
- GIS and Remote Sensing (ref. A. Altobelli; email: altobelli@units.it)
Our goal is to investigate ecological and natural resource conservation questions through integrated field work and remote sensing, from the population to the landscape scale.
Conservation of karst grasslands by the reintroducing of grazing and High Nature Value Farming areas
The dry grasslands of the North Adriatic Karst are habitats very rich in species and characterized by a high occurrence of rare and endemic species: they are recognized by the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) as habitats of conservation interest at European level. Karst grasslands are semi-natural habitats created through time as the result of low-intensity human activities; abandonment of traditional agricultural and grazing practices and the consequent natural process of development of scrubland and woodland are leading to a strong reduction of these habitats.
Our group conducts extensive researches on the dry grasslands of the Italian Karst, on the effects on plant communities of deforestation and grazing as means of conservation, and on the impacts of alien plant species on these fragile habitats.
Plant diversity of inland wetlands
Inland wetlands are habitats with high ecological value dramatically declining as consequence of land-use changes, human alteration, global warming and natural dynamic processes. The degradation or the loss of these habitats are a major threat to many species.
In karstic areas, characterized by the lack of a superficial hydrographic system, aquatic habitats are often man-made bodies of water, artificially created for the needs of the humans, animals and agriculture. The abandonment of traditional economic activities after World War II and the lack of management led to the disappearance of many ponds, precious habitats for biodiversity conservation.
Moreover, the karst lakes system of the Isonzo Karst is one of the most important examples of karstic hydrology in Italy and Europe.
Our group carries out a research program on the flora, vegetation and the conservation status of aquatic habitats of karstic areas: researches are focused on the classic Karst area, particularly on Lake Doberdò, and on mires and ponds of the Cansiglio montane area (Veneto region).
Cave habitats
The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region has an impressive number of caves (over 7700 known caves according to the Regional Cave System Archive); caves are one of the most distinctive notes of the Italian Karst landscape (over 3100 known caves).
Caves are very peculiar and fragile habitats, yet not well known, but of great value for biodiversity. In biospeleology, the knowledge on the plant component is still incomplete: in particular bryophytes, representing a fundamental element of cave habitats, have been long neglected.
Green plants usually grow at the entrances of caves, but are not present in the inner parts due to the lack of sunlight. In natural caves opened to the public and in artificial caves or mines, the electrical lighting enables phototrophic organisms to grow in the underground: a vegetation of cyanobacteria and algae, bryophytes and ferns, called “lampenflora” can be found around lamps. These communities represent an alteration of the underground environment and may cause damages both to speleothems and cave fauna. The development of lampenflora is a typical problem for show cave management.
Our activities involve different aspects of cave ecosystems, including plant communities of wild and show caves and the problem of lampenflora.
The Red List of the Italian flora
The group is involved in a national project for a new Red List of the Italian Flora carried out by the Italian Botanical Society (SBI) and Italian Ministry of Environment for the Protection of Land and Sea (MATTM) within the Italian national strategy for the conservation of biodiversity of MATTM.
Micro-UAVs (drones) for the study of vegetational lanscape
The recent advent of proximal or low altitude remote sensing using small drones (UAV/RPAS) opens up new perspectives for the study of the vegetational landscape. The advantage of these aircraft lies mainly in the high spatial resolution and their operativity which is significantly simple compared to traditional aerial and satellite platforms.
On the basis of the photographs acquired by drones and as a result of the partial overlap of the frames it is possible to create very detailed vegetation maps, including unreachable or unsafe areas, and a three-dimensional model of the ground surface (DSM) of the area of interest. The DSM (Digital Surface Model) represents, in digital form, the level of the land with all the objects found on a given plot including buildings, infrastructure and vegetation.
Immagine da Micro-SAPR (drone) di una zona del Lago di Doberò (Gorizia, Italia), fornita dalla società AIRMAP di Trieste (estate 2014) con una risoluzione spaziale di 3 cm per pixel
Temporal GIS and Climate Change
In order to describe and predict the effects of climate change on the functioning of ecosystems it is possible to monitor continuously them by means of satellite parameters such as: green vegetation indices, surface temperature and moisture.
In the past the handling of spatial-temporal data in the GIS environment was difficult. Now, thanks to the new GRASS GIS Temporal Framework (TGRASS) processing capacity is significantly increased.
Trend (linear regression slope) of summer mean temperature (Land Surface Temperature from MODIS satellites) in the Karst (Kras, Carso) area, from 2005 to 2014, with superimposed the Italian Karst area (Trieste and Gorizia, Italy). Red color indicates rising temperature values, blue indicates falling temperature.
Trend (linear regression slope) of summer mean NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index from MODIS satellites) in the Karst (Kras, Carso) area, from 2005 to 2014, with superimposed the Italian Karst area (Trieste and Gorizia, Italy). Red color indicates rising NDVI values, blue indicates falling NDVI.
