Chapter Estimation of gross and primary production in a coastal forest area undergone to clearcuts

Abstract

The current study presents the application of a model combination strategy to analyse gross and net production in a Mediterranean pine wood ecosystem. The test site is in the San Rossore Regional Park (Central Italy), an area originally characterised by the presence of Pinus pinaster Ait and Pinus pinea L. Since 2004 the former species was attacked by an insect and was therefore subjected to clearcuts around 2012. The latter species, not affected by the insect, has continued to grow, reaching the senescent stage. The evolution of two large stands (i.e., one per species) in terms of gross and net primary production over the years 2013-2022 is then reconstructed by applying satellite-based and process-based models to different datasets: a daily meteorological one, a set of 16-day MODIS NDVI images at 250 m spatial resolution, a LiDAR image taken in 2015 and digital orthophotos referred to 2021. The study shows how this modelling strategy can be successfully used to analyse the influence of climate and management on this forest ecosystem, and to reconstruct the evolution of two stands in different growing phase. Such assessment is relevant to provide the information required for sustainable forest management, concerning in particular carbon cycle ecosystem services.