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Most of olive groves are designed for extensive (traditional) cropping systems (< 200 p ha-1), nowadays high density (HD) or super-high density (SHD) (up to 2500 p ha-1) are increasingly adopted because their ability to reduce production costs. Based on the higher number of trees per hectare and a considerable use of external inputs (e.g., agrochemicals, irrigation), the intensive olive plantations promise more substantial revenues derived from the mechanization of harvest and pruning and an early entry into production. This should provide local farms with the room to grow by reaching an economically sustainable paradigm, however, irrigation water availability and soil slope might limit the adoption of HD and SHD. Olive industry in Basilicata region (Southern Italy) is based on traditional cropping systems with olive groves also playing an important role in protecting soil from hydrogeological risks. In Basilicata there are irrigation networks providing water for agriculture underutilized in some areas because of land abandonment or land use with not-irrigated (less profitable) crops; however, most of lands are non-flat potentially limiting tree crop cultivations. In this work, we searched for identifying suitable areas for establishing new HD/SHD olive plantations within the Basilicata region mainly based on distance from irrigation source and soil slope. At this aim, we used various geo-environmental and anthropic layers in GIS environment. The obtained maps can represent a first knowledge base to support regional policy makers to conceive an appropriate agricultural strategy focused on fixing the lack of facilities (e.g., irrigation schemes) and open the way for innovation approaches able to guarantee adequate profitability to local farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Basilicata region summarizes many basic features of the biogeographic complexity characterizing Mediterranean countries. The intricate geomorphology and the long history of human management generated the current landscapes, which include both high-value ecosystems and areas prone to desertification. Preserving goods and services provided by such composite land cover mosaics poses many problems due to the interference/overlap of diverse natural and anthropic factors which make the correct selection of relevant parameters and the interpretation of observational data rather difficult. Here, we study interconnections between local climate and vegetation activity by correlating parameters characterizing the interannual statistics of the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), derived from satellite data, with a recently devised multivariate statistical index of meteoclimatic variability. We used a 15-year sequence of remote images concerning a set of plots located around meteorological ground stations of the central-eastern part of the region to pick up spatial structures in the vegetation–climate relationships. Our analyses were able to correlate spatial heterogeneity to variations in water exchanges between vegetation and atmosphere. This study represents a first step to improve the description of relevant processes to protect natural habitats and quality agriculture, therefore combating land degradation and climate change detrimental effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to characterize soil samples collected in two different agricultural areas of Potenza suburbs (Southern Italy) devoted to durum wheat cultivation, we used the combination of two techniques: magnetic susceptibility measurements and effective radium concentration obtained from radon emanation. Magnetic susceptibility measurements are generally used as a proxy method for monitoring heavy metals in soil. Radium concentration and radon exhalation rate from soil are used for characterizing different soils. First results suggest that effective radium concentrations in soils can be helpful for the interpretation of magnetic susceptibility field surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversity in composition of moth communities living forest habitats is strongly related to habitat characteristics, depending mainly on dominant forest type. The species in a community have different behaviors and are more or less influenced by the surrounding landscape diversity. The effects of landscape diversity on moth communities are significant when the appropriate spatial scale is considered, which depends on the ecological needs and dispersion abilities of species. In this study we assessed the relationships between landscape diversity at different spatial scales in four different forest Calabrian scenarios, identified by using the CORINE Land Cover, and moth diversity. Nocturnal Lepidoptera were sampled in beech, chestnut, Calabrian black pine and fir forests by using LED light traps. In each forest type 9 traps were posi - tioned, in a total of 36 sample plots selected by the maturity of forest. The diversity of Lepidoptera communities was related to landscape diversity, considering each sample plots as the center of the surrounding landscape analyzed with different buffers (500m, 1000m, 2000m, 3000m, and 5000m). Diversity moth-landscape correlations were performed for: (i) all 36 sample plots; (ii) only broadleaves forest sites; (iii) only coni - fers forest sites; (iv) only forested plots; (v) only non-forested plots. Our results suggest that landscape composition in forest ecosystems, both at small and medium spatial scale, have a driving role in determining moth communities diversity, pointing out that the landscape structure is a parameter to taking in account for the sustainable management of forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]