{"id":767,"date":"2026-08-21T02:23:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T00:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/?page_id=767"},"modified":"2026-09-10T01:18:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:18:27","slug":"biodiversity-conservation-old-growth-forests","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/research\/biodiversity-conservation-old-growth-forests\/","title":{"rendered":"Biodiversity, conservation and old-growth forests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group forestlab-line-image-5\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large forestlab-line-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/08\/28-IMG_8247.jpg\" alt=\"Biodiversit\u00e0, conservazione e caratteristiche delle foreste vetuste\" class=\"wp-image-925\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/08\/28-IMG_8247.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/08\/28-IMG_8247-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/08\/28-IMG_8247-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/08\/28-IMG_8247-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/08\/28-IMG_8247-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We study relationships among forest structure, ecological continuity, management and biodiversity. Particular attention is given to old-growth forests and to features associated with mature and senescent stages, including large trees, deadwood, tree-related microhabitats and structural complexity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Research questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Which forest structures and processes most strongly support biodiversity?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How can old-growthness, naturalness and ecological continuity be identified and monitored?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How can conservation and management be integrated in multifunctional forests?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Approaches and methods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We use surveys of forest structure, deadwood and tree-related microhabitats, habitat and species data, naturalness indicators, remote sensing and spatial analysis. In recent projects we also integrate citizen science and participatory monitoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related projects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=570#forbest\">ForBEST<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=570#elter\">eLTER+<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=570#life-forest4future\">LIFE FOREST4FUTURE<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=570#regione-lombardia-boschi-vetusti\">Lombardy Region \u2013 old-growth forests<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=570#val-di-mello\">Val di Mello<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=570#nbfc-biodiversita\">BIO-WATCH<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=570#parco-agricolo-sud-milano\">Parco Agricolo Sud Milano<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=570#valmalenco\">Valmalenco<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=570#valli-verbano\">Valli del Verbano<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=570#parco-italia\">Parco Italia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Selected publications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Paillet Y. et al. (2024). <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.biocon.2024.110874\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">One to rule them all? Assessing the performance of sustainable forest management indicators against multitaxonomic data for biodiversity conservation<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nagel T.A. et al. (2025). <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s13280-024-02116-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Can triad forestry reconcile Europe\u2019s biodiversity and forestry strategies? A critical evaluation of forest zoning<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Barredo J.I., Vizzarri M., Ku\u017eelov\u00e1 K. (2024). <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s13280-024-02050-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archetypal typology of European forest ecosystems integrating management intensity and naturalness<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Vacchiano G. et al. (2016). <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.foreco.2016.10.009\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Frequent coppicing deteriorates the conservation status of black alder forests in the Po plain<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Santopuoli G. et al. (2022). <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.foreco.2021.119780\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Effects of forest management on tree-related microhabitats in Mediterranean forests<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"\/en\/?page_id=576\">All publications \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We study relationships among forest structure, ecological continuity, management and biodiversity. Particular attention is given to old-growth forests and to features associated with mature and senescent stages, including large trees, deadwood, tree-related microhabitats and structural complexity. Research questions Approaches and methods We use surveys of forest structure, deadwood and tree-related microhabitats, habitat and species data, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":274,"featured_media":925,"parent":566,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-767","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/767"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/274"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1470,"href":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/767\/revisions\/1470"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forestlab.unimi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}