Abstract
A key factor to reduce soil erosion and soil instability is the conservation of forest areas. In the last years, in all Europe, forest logging has increased. The Italian situation is paradigmatic because more than 70% of the broadleaved forests are managed as coppices and new exploitations concerning biomass for energy production have tripled since 2001. The common coppicing method leaves standards uniformly distributed on the ground, but this geometry has proven to not play an effective role in soil erosion control. In this paper, we propose a different method for coppicing geometry, aimed to decrease the soil erosion risk. In particular, the theoretical framework of the model is presented here, employing the USLE framework and discussing a real case study, while the results of the experimental tests, which are in progress, will be discussed in future papers. The theoretical results seem to demonstrate the method’s validity, which is expected to reduce soil erosion amount in the range 29-42%.
Highlights
Is one of the European countries with the highest value of hydrogeological instability due to natural and anthropogenic causes: more than 300 people died in the last 10 years in Italy due to this problem (Trigila et al, 2018)
Inside the plot it would be possible to make one 150 m2 band, 5 m long according to the steepest slope direction, 30 m large according to the contour lines, and distant 50 m from the band upward and downward according to the steepest slope direction
Regarding 1BSM, the band was put in the middle of the plot (50 m far from upper and lower sides), for 2BSM the plot was divided in three zones, putting the two bands at 33 and 66 m from uphill
Summary
Is one of the European countries with the highest value of hydrogeological instability due to natural and anthropogenic causes: more than 300 people died in the last 10 years in Italy due to this problem (Trigila et al, 2018). The hydrogeological risk could become more frequent in the years because of the climate changes that should modify the precipitation regime, causing an increase of intense rainfall events with a very short duration. From projections of the Regional Climate Models for Europe, in the future, higher rainfall intensities and longer dry periods are generally expected (EEA, 2017). Considering the projections related to a Received: 29 Mar 2021. From Volume 49, Issue 1, 2021, Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca journal uses article numbers in place of the traditional method of continuous pagination through the volume. The journal will continue to appear quarterly, as before, with four annual numbers
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
