Monitoring the conservation status of Habitat 9210* “Apennine beech forests with Taxus and Ilex” in Apulia - Preliminary results of an integrated analysis -

Apulian beech forests are mostly ascribed (DGR_2442_2018) to Habitat 9210* “Apennine beech forests with Taxus and Ilex” and distributed almost totally (99.4 %) in 3 sites of Community importance IT9110004 and IT9110030, in Gargano and IT9110003, in Sub Apennine Dauno). The nuclei of Habitat 9210* located in Gargano are included in the Gargano National Park and in the State Reserve "Foresta Umbra". This habitat in Apulia covers about 38 km2, and while representing about 2.6 % of the area covered by the Habitat in the Mediterranean biogeographical region, it is of high ecosystem and conservation value in terms of floristic-vegetational and phytogeographical peculiarities. The monitoring was aimed at verifying, at regional, sub-regional and local scales, the conservation status of Habitat 9210* according to the requirements of the Directive 42/93/CEE. In this contribution, the results of analyses conducted at the local scale are presented. These analyses were based on data from ground survey campaigns carried out between July 2022 and June 2024, (autumn-winter and spring-summer) in Habitat *9210 polygons with an area greater than 5000 m2, distributed within six forest complexes (Foresta Umbra, Carpino-Ischitella, Monte Spigno, San Marco in Lamis, in Gargano, and Sub-Appennino Dauno). Following the verification and cartographic restitution of the polygon perimeters, a multistage random sampling procedure was applied to identify of 35 points procedure within the ISPRA 1 x 1 km cells, for the establishment of circular test areas. These were structured in two concentric circumferences (0.05 and 3.14 ha) for the differential survey of all the mandatory and suggested parameters for forest habitats by the Manual for Habitat Monitoring and the National Monitoring Plan for Terrestrial and Inland Waters Species and Habitats, as well as other parameters to integrate other useful information into the monitoring, in order to assess and connect with the analyses conducted at the regional and sub-regional scales. In the smaller area, the following parameters were assessed: site attributes, structural (DBH ≥ 2 cm), and phytosanitary parameters, total and single-layer ground cover, ground and standing necromass, forest humus form, and the vegetation survey was conducted. In the largest area, floristic surveys were carried out in addition to the assessment of geomorphological aspects, the presence of refuge habitats, environmental homogeneity, accessibility, disruption factors, damage, constraints and obstacles to interventions, road conditions, evidence of silvicultural interventions, the presence of charcoal barrens, as well as the presence and abundance of Taxus baccata and Ilex aquifolium, target species for Habitat *9210 and invasive alien species according to the official national list of invasive alien species. The results indicate significant diversification between different forest complexes, but common problems also emerge at the level of specific compartments. The lack of juvenile development stages, the uniformity of management practices and the almost complete disregard of forest planning are causing the progressive ageing of the tree component. This seems to cause a substantial structural, biological homogenisation of these coenoses and their forest landscapes. The analysis of floristic-vegetation data and the study of forest humus, in particular, confirms what was hypothesised/theorised in the past. Namely, the presence of characteristic turkey oak species, consistent with literature data, suggests that in the absence of appropriate management, even without considering climate change, beech forests could shrink to much smaller nuclei, in favour of turkey oak vegetation series. To counteract this trend, forest planning with specific, well-defined objectives and climate-smart management oriented towards maintaining the biodiversity peculiar to these rear edge beech forests appears necessary.