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The Mediterranean ecosystem represents an important natural resource, being able to produce ecosystem services, has both economic and social repercussions, especially if located in urban and peri-urban areas.

The objective of this work is to develop elements to improve understanding of the behaviour of a coppice in relation to the phenomenon of falling boulders. The first section proposes an amendment to the equation for calculating the index which describes the probability of impact between a rock and plants in managed coppice forests. A study was carried out, using models to calculate the kinetic energy of a falling boulder along a slope considering the kinetic energy dissipated during the impact with the structure of forest plants managed by coppice. The output of the simulation models were then compared with the real dynamics of falling boulders in field tests using digital video. It emerged from an analysis of the results of this comparison that a modification to the 1989 Gsteiger equation was required, in order to calculate the "Average Distance between Contacts" (ADC). To this purpose, the concept of "Structure of Interception", proposed in this paper, was developed, valid as a first approach for describing the differences in the spatial distribution of stems between coppice and forest. This study also aims to provide suggestions for forestry management, in order to maintain or increase the protective capacity of a coppice managed with conventional techniques for the area studied, modifying the dendrometric characteristics.

Climate change and human activities in particular are important causes of the possible variations in Mediterranean basin forest health conditions. Over the last decades, deciduous oak-forest mortality has been a recurrent problem in central and southern Italy. Despite the perception of increasingly visible damage in oak forests in drought sites, the role of various environmental factors in their decline is not completely clear. Among the modern methods of monitoring terrestrial ecosystems, remote sensing is of prime importance thanks to its ability to provide synoptic information on large areas with a high frequency of acquisition. This paper reports the preliminary results regarding a replicable and low cost monitoring tool planned to quantify forest health conditions based on the application of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), using the diachronic images provided by the Sentinel-2 satellite. The study area is represented by a peri-urban forest of natural Mediterranean deciduous oaks, characterized by a high variability in the composition of the species and in the silvicultural structures. In order to monitor the health conditions of a specific forest canopy cover with remote sensing data, it is necessary to classify the forest canopy cover in advance to separate it from other species and from the Mediterranean scrub. This is due to the spatial distribution of vegetation and the high rate of biodiversity in the Mediterranean natural environment. To achieve this, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, forest management data and field sampling data were analyzed. The main results of this research show a widespread decline in oak health conditions over the observed period (2015&ndash, 2017). Specifically, for the studied area, thanks to the specific localization of the oak canopy cover, we detected a high potential concerning the Sentinel-2 data application in monitoring forest health conditions by NDVI application.

The conservation of perceived scenery of traditional extensive and diversified landscapes is a valuable aim for reaching sustainable rural development. Considering the financial budget assigned and the application rules of European Union agricultural policy (Common Agricultural Policy&mdash, CAP), the relationship between perceived landscape benefits and CAP first pillar payments is an interesting aspect to analyze. In this study, a cost-benefit analysis has been carried out in a rural area of Central Italy that represents typical Italian conditions of hilly territories. Greening payment, a mechanism aimed to boost public goods, including landscapes and their ecological functionality, was selected as a proxy for policy cost of preserving traditional extensive landscapes. The benefits of greening have been evaluated through the analysis of the people&rsquo, s willingness to pay for the maintenance of extensive and diversified landscapes. The analysis conducted does not explicitly consider the full range of environmental benefits determined by greening, even if some interviewees may have perceived them in addition to the visual perception of the rural landscape. The present study can contribute to the debate on the agricultural policy post-2020, especially for a future definition of long-lasting and cost-effective sustainable interventions in hilly and extensive rural landscapes.

The Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) aboard the ESA Sentinel-2 (S-2) allows satellite the Normalized Different Vegetation Index (NDVI) to be measured at much higher spatial resolution (10 m) than has been previously possible with space-borne sensors such as Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer aboard ENVISAT or Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus aboard Landsat. Therefore, multi-spectral analysis of remote sensing data today represents an efficient tool for monitoring vegetation in a Mediterranean environment, where spatial resolution often represents a limiting factor due to high fragmentation and spatial distribution of forest stand.

In questo articolo si propone un percorso metodologico partecipato per la definizione di azioni di sviluppo e tutela di un territorio rurale relazionate ai valori identitari che la popolazione riconosce. Tale approccio bottom-up mira a stimolare il coinvolgimento della stessa popolazione e i decisori politici in una logica win-win tesa a valorizzare le risorse e i capitali naturali, sociali e umani del territorio. Il presente lavoro, attraverso un caso studio specifico, si propone quindi come una proposta metodologica per la salvaguardia dei paesaggi i cui caratteri rurali sono ancora riconosciuti dalla popolazione e la creazione di sistemi socio-ecologici piu resilienti ed adattativi.

Soil erosion is an open topic, not only because soil fertility is lost, but also because nutrients are spilled into water bodies, thereby causing pollution. Research carried out in this field has amply described this process, but the interaction between these factors is complex and experimental research is needed to understand the production of loads of nutrients for different land uses. This paper describes a long-term monitoring case study using high-resolution rainfall data and runoff samples, carried out in the Lake Vico basin (Central Italy) to determine the phosphorus (P) export during erosive rainfall events. State of the art GIS-based basin characterization and advanced rainfall-runoff models are employed in order to describe the relationship between nutrient export and rainfall or runoff time distribution. Results show that the phosphorus export is strongly related to such time distributions, and less to the cumulative amount of rainfall or runoff.

Soil erosion is a Europe-wide problem, causing both loss of soil fertility and pollution due to nutrient transport into water bodies. This process is particularly important in the Mediterranean area, where the climate, characterised by long periods of drought followed by intense precipitation, favours soil erosion. Research carried out in this field has amply described this process, showing that climate and land use/land cover (LU/LC) are the two main factors regulating this phenomenon. However, the interaction between these factors is complex and experimental research is needed to understand the nutrient loads deriving from different land uses. This paper shows the results of a long-term monitoring project carried out in the Lake Vico basin (central Italy), using high resolution data and runoff samples to determine the phosphorus (P) export from four different LU/LC classes resulting from the same climatic event. The results highlight the fundamental role that LU/LC plays in terms of phosphorus load. Furthermore, the results appear to indicate that the maximum rainfall registered for 30′ (I 30, max), rather than the total quantity of precipitation, has the greatest effect on levels of erosion, and consequently on the migration of nutrients rather than the total quantity of precipitation can affect on erosion and therefore the migration of nutrients. These data could contribute to scientific planning support for land management choices aimed at controlling water pollution from non-point pollution sources.

By 2006, almost 100,000 km2 of EU soil (2.3% of the whole territory) had been sealed, with a per capita quota of 200 m2 of sealed surface for each EU citizen. Italy, in 2016, recorded a soil sealing rate of 2.8% of the entire territory. In this context, the urban expansion which occurred in past decades is considered one of the main causes of the increase in flood frequency and intensity in small catchments, causing both social and financial damage. In the present paper, the positive impact of introducing Best Management Practices (BMPs) at urban scale is assessed, with particular regard to the decreasing of flood prone areas. A suburban watershed of the metropolitan area of Rome has been selected for a study case, as its soil sealing rate can be considered paradigmatic at this scale. Starting from the analysis of rainfall events occurring between 2008 and 2011 which caused millions of euros worth of damage, and using a high resolution data set in a GIS environment, two scenarios, with and without BMP introduction, are evaluated applying a rainfall-runoff model and a bidimensional hydraulic model. From a comparison of the flood maps with and without the introduction of BMPs, it was determined that in 90% of the circumstances the employment of the BMPs would completely remove the hydraulic risk, while in the remaining 10% the BMP would at least reduce the areas subjected to flooding.

In recent years, the significant improvement in point source depuration technologies has highlighted problems regarding, in particular, phosphorus and nitrogen pollution of surface and groundwater caused by agricultural non-point (diffuse) sources (NPS). Therefore, there is an urgent need to determine the relationship between agriculture and chemical and ecological water quality. This is a worldwide problem, but it is particularly relevant in countries, such as Hungary, that have recently become members of the European Community. The Italian Foreign Ministry has financed the PECO (Eastern Europe Countries Project) projects, amongst which is the project that led to the present paper, aimed at agricultural sustainability in Hungary, from the point of view of NPS. Specifically, the aim of the present work has been to study nitrates in Hungary's main aquifer. This study compares a model showing aquifer intrinsic vulnerability to pollution (using the DRASTIC parameter method; Aller et al. [Aller, L., Truman, B., Leher, J.H., Petty, R.J., 1986. DRASTIC: A Standardized System for Evaluating Ground Water Pollution Potential Using Hydrogeologic Settings. US NTIS, Springfield, VA.]) with a field-scale model (GLEAMS; Knisel [Knisel, W.G. (Ed.), 1993. GLEAMS--Groudwater Leaching Effects of Agricultural Management Systems, Version 3.10. University of Georgia, Coastal Plain Experimental Station, Tifton, GA.]) developed to evaluate the effects of agricultural management systems within and through the plant root zone. Specifically, GLEAMS calculates nitrate nitrogen lost by runoff, sediment and leachate. Groundwater monitoring probes were constructed for the project to measure: (i) nitrate content in monitored wells; (ii) tritium (3H) hydrogen radioisotope, as a tool to estimate the recharge conditions of the shallow groundwater; (iii) nitrogen isotope ratio delta15N, since nitrogen of organic and inorganic origin can easily be distinguished. The results obtained are satisfactory, above all regarding the DRASTIC evaluation method, which is shown to satisfactorily explain both low and high aquifer vulnerability, and furthermore proves to be a good tool for zoning hydrogeological regions in terms of natural system susceptibility to pollution. The GLEAMS model, however, proves not to be immediately usable for predictions, above all due to the difficulty in finding sufficient data for the input parameters. It remains a good tool, but only after an accurate validation, for decision support systems, in the specific case to integrate intrinsic vulnerability, from DRASTIC (or similar methods), with land use nitrate loads from GLEAMS, or similar methods. The PECO project has proved a positive experience to highlight the fundamental points of a decision support system, aimed to mitigate the nitrate risk for groundwater coming from Hungarian agricultural areas.

International audience; The impact of implementing different best management practices (BMPs) at the small watershed scale were examined for the Petzenkirchen catchment in Austria and Lake Vico in Italy, in terms of data needs, hydrological processes, tools and models involved. Identification of critical source areas for targeting soil and phosphorus losses turned out to be crucial for correct allocation of BMPs. Comparison of environmental effectiveness and costs, both calculated using various modelling approaches, enabled us to compare different levels of introducing BMPs ecologically and economically. Within each catchment, small areas of land tended to be the source of disproportionately large amounts of pollution . Therefore, confining mitigation to these areas costs less than targeting wider areas. This suggests that a policy for environmental programmes should be focussed on hydrological units and critical source areas within these units instead of introducing universal controls - the watering can' principle - as practised today.

vThis study was aimed at analysing the most relevant environmental variables involved in vehicle–wild boar road collisions in a Mediterranean area, starting from a territorial information system implemented in a GIS environment. Landscape structure indices and local qualitative and quantitative variables were correlated to identify the most frequent predisposing factors of collisions. Statistical tests of the considered parameters indicated a higher frequency of collisions in the evening hours of late summer and autumn (P

During the last decades the protection of nature has become a very important aspect due to the anthropogenic interference and structural alteration of the environment, especially in the peri-urban areas. Therefore, for a sustainable forest planning it is fundamental to get information about the actual state and the variation in landscape patterns concerning the forest layers. To this aim, an airborne laser scanning (LIDAR), a type of sensor which explicitly measures canopy height, was used to detect landscape patterns of broadleaf oak forest and for detecting the monumental trees in a peri-urban Natural Reserve: the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano (Rome).

Aerial photos represent the main existent database providing evidence of landscape changes with high detail. The analysis of land cover changes plays a key role in understanding a great variety of phenomena in several research fields. Landscapes are made by society and reflect the changing society and attitude towards the environment. The reorientation of farming system, the practical results of planning processes, the rate and magnitude of the changes in the landscape are some of the most important factors relating to the evolution of our landscapes and are very helpful for the understanding of evolution processes and consequently for the design of landscape-orientated policies. Pressures upon the landscape and values of our landscapes can be defined according to their traditional characteristics; traditional landscapes can be defined as those landscapes having a distinct and recognizable structure, which reflect relations between the composing elements and have a significance for natural, cultural or aesthetical values. In most cases, such landscapes evolved slowly and took centuries to form their values. Sometimes land changes happen fast and spread in vast areas so that some agricultural or natural landscapes, widely perceived as traditional, have very recent origin. In this paper, some preliminary observation and case-studies performed on a set of historical photos are dealt with. In 1935, the Italian Land Register Department commissioned SARA company to survey Viterbo province between 1935-1938 through aerial photographs. During the survey, 5,000 photographs on glass plates were taken at a very low altitude, featuring a very high resolution. Thus, they represents a valuable source of information for documenting past and present land-use practices, local cultural heritage and changes in the landscape. Processing this set of historical photos has started, aimed to quantitatively and qualitatively analyse the 1935-1938 landscape patterns and their role in the development of nowadays landscapes.

In the last few decades, increased inputs of nutrients (mostly nitrogen and phosphorus) to agricultural land have led to runoff transporting an ever growing portion of these nutrients from non-point (diffuse) pollution sources into rivers and lakes, thus threatening freshwater quality. Phosphorus (P), the focus of the present paper, is principally transported from agricultural land bound to sediments and can accelerate freshwater eutrophication. Two fundamental problems face land managers when dealing with the problem of non-point P pollution. The first is posed by the quantitative evaluation of P loads at basin scale, which is essential in assessing areas of higher export risk and transport pathways. The second is finding a satisfactory compromise between two opposing needs: simplicity, to satisfy management, and complexity, to interpret real processes and their related uncertainty. Uncertainty is not merely the uncertainty that is intrinsic to model simulations, but also that deriving from the inherent stochastic variability of real systems. In the present study, an attempt to maximise the advantages of both approaches was made. The Lake Vico basin, Central Italy, was selected as a suitable site, since the P concentration of the lake increased dramatically at the beginning of the 1990s, due to P non-point pollution source loads. The simulation model (Groundwater Leaching Effects of Agricultural Management Systems, GLEAMS) was used to evaluate field scale P losses in two different scenarios: conventional and conservative agricultural practices. A regression model for each of these two scenarios was then fitted, to find the best relation between slope, on the one hand, and P losses. This regression allowed the GLEAMS results to be extended to basin scale, by a digital terrain model and a geographic information system (GIS), making it possible to evaluate P export into the lake, thus meeting management needs. The accuracy of this type of approach was evaluated by comparing model predictions with monitored results of P concentration in water. The suggested approach offers solutions to several problems regarding land management sustainability, including: (i) a quantitative evaluation of different land management scenarios; (ii) the possibility of zoning landscape according to risk level, comparing different scenarios and related environmental efficiency; (iii) an integrated evaluation of land cover, in terms of its impact on freshwater ecological status and the long-term water body condition, as a consequence of land use. (C) 2008 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Water pollution from point sources has been reduced throughout Europe and in particular in Italy thanks to the improvement of the relative depuration technologies. Nevertheless, water quality problems remained and were attributed to non point pollution sources, and in particular to agriculture.

1. Unfortunately, the terms ‘‘Vico Case’’ in the article title was erroneously published as ‘‘Vicocase’’. It should read as ‘‘the Lake Vico Case Study’’, not ‘‘the Lake Vicocase Study’’. 2. The fourth and fifth authors name of given and family name was reversed mistakenly as ‘‘Perini Luigi and Salvati Luca’’. It should read as Luigi Perini, not Perini Luigi and Luca Salvati, not Salvati Luca. 3. And the affiliations of authors L. Perini and L. Salvati are updated as follows